


The UK Avengers

by MedieavalBeabe



Series: The UK Avengers [2]
Category: Doctor Who (BBC), Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, James Bond (Craig movies), Merlin (TV), Sherlock (TV), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Aliens, And Gets One, Avenging Earth, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Eventual Merlin/Freya, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Loki Needs a Hug, Odin's A+ Parenting, Plot Twist, Post-Avengers, Post-Deathly Hallows, Post-Loki's Angels, Post-Quantum of Solace, Post-The Empty Hearse, Post-The Lady Of The Lake, Post-Thor, Post-Wholock, Pre-Cursed Child, Pre-His Last Vow, Pre-Skyfall, Revalations, Saving Universe, Spoilers, Teamwork, The Doctor Gets Angry, Time Travel Tricks, Trust Issues, Victory, Won't Say Which, ressurection
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-25
Updated: 2018-03-06
Packaged: 2018-08-11 01:15:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 20,013
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7869790
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MedieavalBeabe/pseuds/MedieavalBeabe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"We fight across Time and Space, leaving no villains undefeated...and we'll always be back home in time for tea before you know it!" crazyartist12</p><p>When the Earth is in danger, only the most intelligent people in the universe can save it; and they just happen to be a 900 year old Time Lord, a cryokinetic Mondasian human, a sociopathic detective, a doctor, two wizards, a spy and a Frost Giant!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Six Humans, a Time Lord and a Frost Giant Walk Into a Room...

**Author's Note:**

> Finally it's here, and I must credit my friend crazyartist12 for coming up with the original idea for creating a UK branch of Avengers from different British TV shows and films. His original artwork can be found here, and as you can see from our conversation, he gave me permission to take his idea and change it up a little: http://medieavalbeabe.deviantart.com/art/The-UK-division-of-the-avengers-updated-445230223
> 
> Thanks, crazyartist12, this is for you!

History is littered with its heroes, both real and fictional, but in all the tales of heroes to exist there hasn’t been one quite like this one, a tale of real heroes meeting famous characters of literature and myth, creating a team who would save the world from many threats, dangers and invasions.

 

And it begins with a ship impossibly and yet at the same time not quite impossibly bigger on the inside than the outside.

 

The Doctor looked up with a grin as Hannah came into the console room yawning and tying back her hair in its usual, as of late, plait. “Enjoy your nap?”

 

“Yeah, I did, actually,” Hannah agreed, stretching. She wore her favourite short, sleeveless blue dress with the halter neck, dark blue leggings and long ice-blue boots with the high heels, which were actually easier for running in than people thought. “I’m a bit peckish now, though.”

 

“Have a Jammy Dodger,” the Doctor said, pushing the plate over to her as his eyes flickered back and forth across the various buttons, levers and screens of the Tardis control panel. Everything looked to be in order, but even as he was thinking it, a small green light began to blip on the panel in front of him. He frowned. “Strange.”

 

“What?” Worried it might be something bad, Hannah jogged up to him.

 

“Some kind of signal pulling us off course,” the Doctor replied, checking the screen in front of him.

 

“Pulling us where?” Hannah asked, warily.

 

“Earth,” the Doctor replied. “Your time.”

 

She relaxed, and then frowned. “What kind of signal?”

 

“That’s what I’m trying to find out,” the Doctor replied, busy fiddling with the Tardis console. While he was doing that, Hannah busied herself with monitoring the Time Path Indicator, just in case they were being chased by anything, although she doubted that. Inwardly she hoped that they weren’t being called back to Earth by some alien species intent on leading them into a trap so that their attempt to take over the universe wouldn’t be thwarted by a meddling Time Lord and his Mondasian Human friend. After all, they had only just finished saving the Earth of the future, in the year 6073 to be precise, from a race of savage Slitheen who wanted to destroy the planet to sell for scrap, _again._

 

“Hm,” the Doctor said, suddenly, and she glanced up, hopefully. “Strange, just an ordinary computer signal, nothing alien about it, kind of like the signals they use to get in touch with us at UNIT.” Hannah felt relieved until he added “Only it’s not coming from UNIT HQ.”

 

“Well, where’s it coming from then?” Hannah asked.

 

“Don’t know, we’re going to have to follow it to find out.” The Doctor pulled a lever on the console and took hold of another one before fixing Hannah with a meaningful but gentle look. “Hold onto something, it’s going to be a bit bumpy.”

 

From previous bumpy rides in the Tardis, Hannah was wise by now as to what to grab hold of, and she quickly threw her arms around a railing as the Doctor jerked the second lever upwards. With a hollow variation on its usual grinding-and-scraping-of-gears take-off noise, the Tardis jolted into action and Hannah relaxed when she realised that the ride wasn’t quite as rocky as she had first imagined it might be. It was like landing a plane on a runway after a long journey, really, that kind of gentle but unsteady touching down, until suddenly the Tardis made its normal landing noise and the bumping stopped. The Doctor grinned up at her.

 

“Piece of cake.”

 

Hannah returned his grin and she straightened up, flipping a stray fluff of hair out of her eyes. “Nothing to it, Doctor.”

 

“Right, let’s see where we are,” the Doctor added, pulling open the Tardis doors. Hannah followed him through but the second they had stepped from the ship into a vast corridor, the pair of them found themselves facing ten armed men with military service weapons pointing right at them. Automatically, the Doctor and Hannah threw up their hands. “Okay!” the Doctor exclaimed, cheerfully. “What have we done?”

 

“Maybe it was that time we parked the Tardis on double yellow lines?” Hannah joked, feebly.

 

One of the men, clearly the leader, stepped forwards. “Are you the Doctor?”

 

“Yes, yes I am,” the Doctor chirped, “and this is Hannah.”

 

Hannah made a nervous wave with her fingers whilst still keeping both hands up in the air.

 

The man nodded. “This way if you please.”

 

Exchanging a look and a shrug, the Doctor and Hannah did as they were told and made their way, surrounded by the armed men, towards a door right at the end of the corridor. The leader knocked and a familiar bored voice intoned “Come.”

 

The Doctor and Hannah looked at one another again, as things began to make sense and confirmed with one voice “Mycroft.”

 

The man opened the door and announced “The Doctor and Miss Waters, Sir.”

 

“Ah, excellent,” Mycroft replied, in an easier tone than usual as he got to his feet and the Doctor and Hannah were shown into what appeared to be a miniature office. “Doctor, Miss Waters,” he added as the door was closed behind them. “Forgive the hostility of your arrival, these men are new, ex-army. I tell them to bring you two to my office when you arrive and they immediately assume you’re criminals.”

 

“Oh, we’ve had worse, Mikey,” the Doctor replied, cheerfully, and Hannah bit back a laugh as Mycroft looked slightly irritated by the Doctor’s use of the nickname he had always hated from his parents, never mind a 900 year old Time Lord. “So,” the Doctor added, casually, propping his feet up on the desk, crossing his legs and folding his arms. “What’s the problem?”

 

“The threat of an oncoming alien invasion, Doctor,” Mycroft replied, shoving a file across the desk to him. The Doctor picked it up and Hannah leaned over his shoulder to see that it contained blown up photographs. “Recognise them, Doctor?”

 

The Doctor nodded, grimly. The blurry ghost-like shapes, blurrier than he had seen them before but still undoubtedly caused by the same thing, were all too familiar to him. Hannah furrowed her brow. “They look like ghosts...wait...they look like what everyone thought were ghosts back when...”

 

“Back when the Cybermen invaded Canary Wharf,” the Doctor finished with a nod. “Yes.”

 

Mycroft leaned back in his chair. “Britain wasn’t prepared last time for such an invasion. These photographs have been taken by the good people at UNIT as well as some passersby, and thanks to them, we plan to be prepared this time, Doctor, which is where the two of you come in.” He picked up another file but didn’t hand it over just yet. “I realise it might be a touchy subject for you, but you’ve no doubt heard of SHIELD, Doctor?”

 

“The Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division?” the Doctor replied, nodding. “Oh, yes.”

 

Hannah blinked. “Blimey, and I thought UNified Intelligence Taskforce was a mouthful.”

 

The Doctor grinned at her and then turned to Mycroft. “They’ve been in touch?”

 

Mycroft nodded. “As I suspected, news of the New York incident hasn’t reached you yet. Well, I will tell you that several months ago, an army of aliens invaded New York city, and were only stopped because SHIELD director Nick Fury launched what he called the Avengers Initiative – bringing together the most powerful people in America to defeat them with their own special skills and training.”

 

The Doctor nodded. “Right, but why would Hannah and I find that a touchy subject?”

 

Mycroft sighed and held out the file. “Because, Doctor, the aliens weren’t working alone. They had someone you knew with them, also trying to take over the Earth. His own brother joined the Avengers team to defeat him.”

 

Slowly, the Doctor took the file and opened it. This one contained case notes on these “Avengers” including photographs paperclipped to their pages. The Doctor flipped through a few of them until he realised what Mycroft was getting at. “Thor?”

 

“Loki?” Hannah’s head jerked up. “That can’t be right!”

 

The Doctor was also frowning. “No, that doesn’t make sense. Why would Loki want to invade Earth?”

 

Mycroft smiled, sadly. “His brother couldn’t get him to talk, I’m afraid. At any rate, he was arrested and sent back to Asgard, where apparently his father was all set to have him imprisoned for life, but Thor on the other hand had a better idea.” Confidentially he leaned forwards in his chair, fingertips pressed together in a professional manner. “Apparently, before the Avengers Initiative was launched, Thor spent some time on Earth and became a better person for it. Now he’s hoping that the same can happen for his brother, which is where you come in.” He took a deep breath. “The British Government wants to launch its own Avengers Initiative, for the UK, and in doing so Thor is hoping that not only can they protect the Earth but they can also pull Loki back from any desire to conquer it.”

 

The Doctor cocked an eyebrow at him. “In other words, Loki’s on community service by joining us in defeating the Cybermen?”

 

“You and the rest of the most intelligent minds this side of the universe, yes,” Mycroft smiled.

 

“No need, I’m going to bloody kill him when I see him,” Hannah muttered.

 

“Alright, Hannah, let’s at least hear him out first,” the Doctor replied, glancing at Mycroft. “And who exactly are the finest minds this side of the universe, Mikey?” He frowned. “Not the Judoon, please, we’ve had enough trouble with them already, haven’t we had enough trouble with them already, Hannah?”

 

“Yup,” Hannah agreed.

 

“They have been selected by Asgard’s gatekeeper, or so I am told,” Mycroft replied, getting to his feet. “People who exist in worlds parallel to our own, one who lived a very, very long time ago on this world and people who still live here now.” He smiled again at the bewildered looks on their faces and nodded to a door set in the wall to their right. “Some are already here, Doctor, and the others-”

 

He was interrupted by yet another knock at the door and this time the leader announced “Sir, Mr Holmes and Mr Watson.”

 

“Excellent,” Mycroft replied, tightly, and a second later Sherlock had strode into the room, followed by John.

 

The Doctor grinned at leapt to his feet to shake John by the hand. “Well, aren’t you two a sight for sore eyes?”

 

Hannah smiled at Sherlock, who looked rather irate towards his brother. “Have you been briefed?”

 

“Clean on this morning, Hannah,” the Doctor joked, and John laughed.

 

She shook her head. “Not you.”

 

“Yes, Hannah, in answer to your question, we have, and incidentally you’ve got a broken nail there that needs filing, left hand, third finger,” Sherlock reeled off, folding his arms. “And I think I speak for both of us when I say we do not appreciate being dragged away from home for something that hasn’t even happened yet, Mycroft.”

 

“Well, you can take your anger out on the Norse God who started it all in the first place, Sherlock,” Mycroft retorted.

 

“Alright, that’s enough,” the Doctor replied, testily. “Let’s go and see him...and everyone else,” he added, perking up.

 

Hannah got to her feet as Sherlock thrust his hands deep into his coat pockets and muttered “Most intelligent minds this side of the universe, probably a bunch of Cambridge scholars who wouldn’t know an alien if it was standing right in front of them.”

 

As it turned out, however, in a rare instance that neither the Doctor, Hannah, Mycroft or John ever thought they would live to see, Sherlock was wrong. When they walked into the adjoining room, they were met by the sight of three men, two young and seated, one closer to John’s age and standing. The four friends stopped in their tracks as Mycroft smirked at their reactions to the trio. They were certainly a strange trio, to say the least; the older man looking rather familiar, dressed in a suit and with close cropped sandy hair; one of the younger men dressed in what looked vaguely like a modern take on the costume of a medieval serf, his hair dark and his expression apprehensive, and the third, younger even than Hannah, they all recognised, even before taking in the black untidy hair, green eyes framed by round glasses and the lightning bolt shaped scar across his forehead.

 

Hannah was the first to recover from the initial shock as she grasped the Doctor’s arm. “Doctor, how is this possible?”

 

“Well, Hannah, you remember how I’m always telling you that every story ever written has an element of truth in it?” the Doctor asked. “Like that time we went to Storybrooke?”

 

“Yeah, but...Hogwarts? Seriously? You’re telling me it’s real?”

 

“What are you talking about?” Harry Potter asked, slightly suspiciously. “Of course it’s real.”

 

“Well, maybe in your universe,” Hannah agreed, “but here it’s just a story.”

 

“And a very good one too,” the Doctor smiled, stepping closer to the confused trio. “Gook old JK, I’m looking forward to finding out just how much of it is true. Mr Bond, I presume?” he added to the older man.

 

James Bond inclined his head, slightly. “Don’t tell me I don’t exist in this world either.”

 

“No, but you do look very much like the actor who’s been playing you in the films recently,” the Doctor conceded, nodding his head. “Let’s just hope we don’t run into him. As it is you’re already looking a little shaken...”

 

He winked at Hannah who quickly cottoned on. “But not stirred.”

 

John grinned. “Very funny, Doctor.”

 

“I thought so too,” the Doctor grinned before turning to the other man. “And you are..?”

 

Merlin sprang up at once. “My name’s Merlin.”

 

“Merlin?” the Doctor repeated. _“The_ Merlin? The man who hangs around with King Arthur at Camelot?”

 

“Well, he’s not King yet and I’m actually just his servant,” Merlin admitted, “although I have saved his life more times than I can actually remember.”

 

“Well, it’s a pleasure to meet you,” the Doctor grinned, spinning around to the others. “I’d say Heimdall made a good decision here. Thanks, Heimdall!” he shouted to the ceiling before spinning around to face Mycroft as the others, sans Hannah, all glanced upwards and wondered who exactly he was talking to. “Right, now that we’re all here-!” Then he frowned. “Wait, wait, someone’s missing, who’s missing?”

 

“That would be me, Doctor,” sighed a rather bored voice from behind Mycroft.

 

Mycroft visibly jumped, which caused Sherlock to snigger, and then sighed. “Can’t you be a bit more subtle?”

 

Loki shrugged. “Where’s the fun in that?”

 

SLAP!

 

Everyone jumped at the sound, even those who knew Hannah well enough to know that this was exactly the kind of thing she would do at a time like this.

 

“That’s for invading Earth!” she snapped.

 

Loki smiled and straightened up. “Good to see you too, Angel.”

 

“Don’t you “Angel” me, Loki Odinson, I’m furious with you!” Hannah exclaimed.

 

Loki scowled at her. “Laufeyson, I think you’ll find.”

 

Hannah frowned. “What?”

 

“Alright, you two, you can flirt later,” the Doctor cut in, and then when he received death glares from the pair of them, threw up his hands and added “Sorry, catch up, whatever, right now we have more pressing problems, like an oncoming Cyber invasion!”

 

“I quite agree, Doctor,” Mycroft concurred, opening the door behind him. “According to UNIT statistics, we have at least a week, if that, before they arrive, by which time the British Government expects to have a fully-trained, fully-prepared team who can personally save the Earth from this attack.” He smiled as everyone glanced worriedly at him. “I’ll leave the seven of you to discuss how things will pan out.”

 

“Seven?” John repeated. “There’s eight of us.”

 

“Well, seven and one to make the tea,” Mycroft quipped, before leaving the room.

 

Indignantly, Hannah formed a large ball of snow, but before she could throw it after Mycroft, the Doctor, who wasn’t even looking at her, ordered “Drop it!”

 

Hannah sighed. “Fine!” And then she flung it at Loki instead. Instead of being cross, however, Loki brushed snow off him and stared at her in surprise.

 

“I didn’t know you could do that,” he said.

 

“And I didn’t know you could invade my home planet, seems we’re all learning new things today,” Hannah retorted, not looking at him.

 

“Alright, Hannah, that’s enough,” the Doctor said, turning about to face everyone. “Right, well since it seems that we’ve all been thrown together like this, I think the first thing we should do is-”

 

“Sorry, but who put _you_ in charge?” James interrupted.

 

“Well, no one,” the Doctor began.

 

“I think you’ll find the Doctor knows more about aliens than anyone else in this room,” John put in.

 

“Well, that’s debatable,” Sherlock muttered.

 

“Sherlock!”

 

James raised his eyebrows. “You? No offence, but you don’t exactly look like an expert. More to the point, why should the three of us,” and here he indicated himself, Merlin and Harry, “worry about a universe we don’t even exist in?”

 

“Well, actually Merlin does-” the Doctor began.

 

“Because it’s the right thing!” Hannah interrupted. “Your universe, ours, it’s the same Britain!”

 

Harry thought about it. “Well, I suppose you do sort of have a point but...aliens? Really?”

 

“So you believe in unicorns but not aliens?” Sherlock queried, snarky as ever. “What must it be like living inside your mind?”

 

Harry bristled. “Well excuse me, but I’ve never had any experience with so-called alien beings. In my world, they don’t exist.”

 

The Doctor sighed. This was not how this was supposed to work, they were supposed to be a team and yet they were already bickering amongst themselves, well, all but Merlin and Loki, who looked like this was a debate they’d rather stay out of. He stepped forwards and took a deep breath.

 

“Alright, listen everyone-”

 

Before he could finish, however, Hannah grabbed him by the arm. “Conference,” she said, tugging on his sleeve, before turning to the others. “Excuse us a second.” The Doctor blinked at her as she pulled him over into a corner of the room. “You need to get their trust, Doctor, we need to show them that you do know what you’re talking about, whatever Sherlock says.”

 

“What do you suggest?” the Doctor whispered back.

 

“Easy. Show them the Tardis. That’s how you got me to trust you.”

 

The Doctor grinned broadly at her, grabbed her and kissed the top of her head. “Brilliant, Hannah! ‘Scuse me, everyone, won’t be a minute!”

 

“Please stop doing that!” Hannah groaned, touching the top of her head as the Doctor sprinted out of the room.

 

Harry blinked at her. “Sorry, is it just me or is your boyfriend always this-?”

 

“Bonkers?” Hannah finished, folding her arms. “Completely. And he’s not my boyfriend, people only think we’re together because we argue so much.”

 

A second later, the sound that filled the room caused those who weren’t used to it to back as far away from it as possible as the Tardis materialised right in front of them. The Doctor popped his head out and grinned. “Ok, you lot don’t believe in aliens? Well, take a look inside here!”

 

James, Harry and Merlin all glanced at Hannah, who gently indicated for them to do so. “Go ahead.”

 

After a brief hesitation, James ventured forth into the Tardis and then his exclamation of “Oh my God!” caused everyone else to run inside too, even those who were used to the inside-out dimensions of the Tardis by this time. Those who weren’t, though, stared around themselves in awe; even Loki, who had never actually seen the inside of the Tardis even though he knew what it was, looked amazed.

 

“This is...” James gasped, staring around and then fixating his expression on the Doctor. “How? Just...how?”

 

The Doctor grinned. “She’s alien.”

 

“She’s dimensionally transcendental,” Hannah explained, and when the others looked at her with curiousity, she shrugged. “I don’t know what it means either, but it always sounds good.”

 

“Well, I haven’t got time to explain it now,” the Doctor replied, going over to the console. “Let’s just say she’s the best time and space machine in the whole entire universe and by a complex series of technology from my own home planet, her interior and exterior dimensions co-exist in the same place at the same time, and leave it at that.”

 

“And she’s called the Tardis,” John added.

 

“That stands for Time And Relative Dimension In Space,” Hannah finished.

 

Harry frowned. “Hold on, you say your home planet?”

 

The Doctor grinned again. “Oh, I’m not human. But you don’t need to panic. Unlike these aliens who are coming to invade Earth even as we speak, I’m on the side of good, and if there’s one planet I care about very deeply, it’s Earth, so I always do my utmost to try and save it.”

 

“And I’m glad _someone_ does,” Hannah added, meaningfully shooting Loki a look as she went up to join the Doctor at the console whilst the others, sans Sherlock and John, gaped at what the Doctor had just told them.

 

Loki had had enough and he quickly folded his arms. “Hannah, I didn’t _want_ to invade your home planet. I didn’t have a choice.”

 

The Doctor looked up at him as Loki’s expression softened and suddenly the Doctor was reminded of the Loki he had met as a young boy, the shy child in the library who had once told the Doctor that he wanted to be just like him. No, the Doctor realised, his first instinct had been right. Loki was not evil. He didn’t want to invade the Earth. Loki glanced back at him and the Doctor knew that he was uncomfortable from all this sudden attention.

 

Thankfully, John had picked up on it too, and he quickly said “Hey, you know, if we’re going to be staying in the Tardis, you lot should probably know where everything is. I can show you,” and beckoned with his head towards the door that led out of the console room and into the rest of the Tardis. Merlin and Harry certainly seemed eager to see the rest of it and James too had decided that perhaps the following conversation was best left between the Doctor, Hannah and Loki. Sherlock seemed keen to linger, but John grabbed his arm and tugged him out of the room too. After fiddling with something on the console, the Doctor gently turned to Loki and offered him an inviting smile.

 

“Alright, Loki,” he said, softly, “I know you didn’t want to talk to Thor or Odin about this, but do you want to tell us what _really_ happened?”


	2. Loki's Tale

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Confessions, alien briefings, rule making and of course tea - the UK Avengers get down to business in true UK style!

Hannah folded her arms but tried to fix her expression into one rather less hostile than it had previously been as Loki shifted a little uncomfortably before meeting the Doctor’s eyes.

 

“I was forced against my will and I wasn’t strong enough to fight back,” he stated, sounding ashamed.

 

The Doctor frowned, gently, and stepped forwards. “How so, Loki?”

 

“They had hold of my mind, Doctor,” Loki explained. “I couldn’t stop them, and once they had it, well, I was trapped.”

 

“Who did that to you, Loki?” the Doctor asked.

 

“The Chitauri,” Loki replied, and the Doctor’s expression changed quicker than a traffic light going from red to green as he suddenly, to the alarm of both Hannah and Loki, seized the latter’s arms, his eyes suddenly wild.

 

“The Chitauri did that to you, and you survived?! Loki, count yourself lucky you’re here now to tell the tale!”

 

Hannah frowned. “Who are the Chitauri, Doctor?”

 

“A very, very evil race of aliens, Hannah,” the Doctor replied as he whirled about to face her.

 

“How evil?”

 

“Put it this way, they’re second only to the Daleks!”

 

Hannah blanched. “That _is_ bad!”

 

“You’re telling me, I’ve met them!” The Doctor turned back to Loki. “They tortured you?”

 

Loki shuddered at the memory. “Yes. They wanted to seize Asgard first, get control of that and then deal with Midgard. When that failed, they decided to just go ahead and attack Midgard anyway, figuring that only Thor would try to stop them and they could take him down easily.” He fiddled with the inside of his sleeve. “They didn’t bank on his new friends helping, though.”

 

“How did you get away?” the Doctor asked, sounding both awed and concerned.

 

Loki looked away. “One of Thor’s friends beat me half to death and that broke their link to me.”

 

“Link?” Hannah repeated.

 

“Yes, Hannah, the Chitauri can inflict mental torture as well as physical,” the Doctor replied, looking over at her. “Once they have control of your mind, they can tap into your intermost thoughts, find what you care about most and use it to make you do their bidding, classic evil character trick, you see it all the time in books too, don’t you?” Hannah nodded. “Like working a puppet on a string, they can manoeuvre a person to do anything once they have control of them,” the Doctor added. “They can make a person kill even something or someone they care about and there’s nothing that person can do except obey and watch it burn.”

 

Hannah shuddered. “Not a race you want to meet in a dark alley, then, Doctor?”

 

“No, indeed,” the Doctor replied, and then in a gentler tone he added to Loki, “What was it they had on you, Loki? What were they threatening to do if you didn’t comply?”

 

Loki met his look again. “They found my weakness.”

 

“Which was?”

 

“You two.”

 

Hannah blinked at him, but the Doctor didn’t look at all surprised.

 

Loki elaborated. “They said they could track you two down and then they’d torture you both to death right in front of me. I thought at first they were lying, but then they showed me that it could be done...” He stopped for a moment and shook his head. “Doctor, that vision, it was so real...”

 

“I know,” the Doctor murmured, patting his shoulder. “Their power of illusions can outshine even yours, Loki.”

 

Loki finally managed a small smile. “I didn’t want to do any of it, Doctor, you have to believe me. That whole time I was invading Midgard, hurting those people, all I kept hoping for was for either you two to show up, or for Thor to come and stop me, one or the other. With invading Midgard there was a chance I could somehow regain control of myself, with help, but I couldn’t stand to watch you two be killed.” He glanced at Hannah and in spite of knowing that he was a rather skilled liar, she, like the Doctor, could see the young boy they had once known, once played with and given advice to, standing in front of her and knew he was telling the truth. “You’re the only friends I’ve got.”

 

The Doctor gave his shoulder a squeeze and offered him a smile. “It’s over now,” he said, softly.

 

Hannah sighed and then walked over to them. “Oh, come here,” she murmured, holding out her arms and then hugging Loki tightly. Rather relieved that she wasn’t about to slap him again, Loki returned her hug, glancing at the Doctor over her shoulder.

 

“Doctor, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have fallen for their lies-”

 

“Don’t be ridiculous, Loki,” the Doctor cut in. “Even _I_ could if they showed me people I cared about being tortured, any Time Lord could, and we happen to be a pretty sharp race.” He tucked his hands into his pockets, looking sheepish. “And...I’m the one who should apologise, Loki, for not being there. You remember those few times, Hannah, when we’d be chasing or running away from hostile aliens, like that time on Falagos 1?” Hannah, having broken her hug with Loki, nodded. “And the Tardis tried to alert me to something-?”

 

“And you just whacked the console with a hammer and told her to behave?” Hannah cut in.

 

“Precisely,” the Doctor nodded, looking very ashamed of himself. “Well, after doing a little bit of research, looking back over that, I know now what she was trying to tell me, that we needed to go to Asgard. At the time I ignored it, thinking the Tardis was on the blink or something...again, but she wasn’t. She was letting me know that you needed us, Loki.” He faced the young God with his most apologetic look. “And I ignored that. I wasn’t there when you needed help most, and for that I’ll always be extremely sorry.”

 

“Hold on, though,” Hannah said, before Loki could respond. “If you had gone to Asgard when the Tardis told you to, then would we be here now? Would we be building a team to fight aliens over in Britain?”

 

The Doctor frowned and scratched his head. “That’s a point, I hadn’t thought of that. Oh!” He groaned and ruffled his hair up in frustration. “Why can’t Time ever go in a straight line instead of being all wibbly-wobbly-all over the place?” Hannah and Loki both began to laugh as he looked up at them. “What? Is it the hair? Does it look like yours first thing in the morning, Hannah?”

 

Hannah shot him a glare. Loki quickly recovered from his laughing fit and adopted a serious expression.

 

“I’m not angry with you, Doctor, if that’s what you’re thinking. I suppose deep down I knew you’d come if you could.”

 

The Doctor smiled, benevolently, and then turned in the direction of the doorway that led into the rest of the Tardis. “Well, perhaps you’re right, Hannah, perhaps this is the way things were meant to turn out. I mean, think about it, _think_ about _it._ We are the best spy in the whole world of fiction, two of the most famous wizards who ever existed, a consulting detective, an ex-soldier turned medical doctor, the God of Mischief, a cryokinetic human, and of course, me! And the Tardis! Who better to save the Earth from the threat of alien invasion?” He looked over at Loki. “Want to be part of a team that wins for once?”

 

Loki nodded. “Yes, Doctor, I do.”

 

“Good man,” the Doctor smiled, clapping his hands together. “Hannah, round up the troops! Oh, and put the kettle on while you’re at it.”

 

That remark earned him a wet snowball to the back of the head and another bout of laughter from Loki. Before leaving the room, however, a thought struck Hannah and she turned back to her old friend. “Hang on, Loki, why didn’t you tell Odin about this?”

 

Loki gave her a look. “Because he’d never have believed me.”

 

“But we believe you.”

 

“That’s because I’ve never had any reason to lie to you two.”

 

With a thoughtful frown, Hannah made her way into the kitchen and the Doctor beckoned Loki up the Tardis console, flicking a few random buttons on the way through. “Odin’s put some kind of restraints on you, hasn’t he, Loki? It’s just the type of thing he would do.”

 

Loki held up his arms, showing two gold leather arm guards that looked as if they were actually just a part of his tunic. “They limit my magic, Doctor, and only magic can get them off.”

 

“Oh, magic!” The Doctor groaned again, rolling his eyes. “Let me tell you something, Loki, magic is just a word people use for unexplainable feats of science, and let me tell you that when it comes to science, I happen to be an expert!” Whipping out the sonic screwdriver, he pointed it at Loki, who automatically flinched, not entirely sure what the Doctor was about to do to him since he now seemed rather agitated, and pressed the button that gave the device its power. The arm guards fell off and Loki blinked up at him. “If we’re fighting hostile aliens, you need your full powers,” the Doctor explained, tucking the sonic away in his pocket. “And when all this is over, I’ve got more than a few things I want to talk to your adopted father about.”

 

Loki frowned. “How-?”

 

“Please, Loki.” The Doctor cocked his head on one side. “I might be nine hundred years old, give or take, but that doesn’t mean I’m going deaf just yet. I know who Laufey is.”

 

Loki glanced at his feet. “You mean _was,_ Doctor. The Chitauri-”

 

“Made you kill him?” the Doctor finished, gently. “Loki, look at me.” Slowly, Loki raised his head. “You’re not the only person in this room who’s had to sacrifice their own race because they had no other choice, trust me.”

 

Loki wriggled his shoulders, uncomfortably. “You know what I am, Doctor?”

 

The Doctor smiled, softly. “Frost Giants are a very noble race, Loki, more so than people give them credit for. Noble, vastly intelligent, brave, loyal...occasionally mischievous, but dignified none the less, and incredibly skilled in magic...all traits I see in you, Loki.”

 

Loki flushed. “Most people think they’re monsters, Doctor.”

 

“Mm, and you know what?” the Doctor asked, finishing up fiddling around with the Tardis console, straightening up and turning to him. “There are also aliens out there who think _I’m_ a monster.”

 

Loki was genuinely surprised by that statement. “You, Doctor?”

 

“I know!” The Doctor spread his arms. “Can you credit it? Mind you, that’s all those hostile aliens who get hot under the collar just because I prevent them from taking over the universe. I mean, you don’t think I’m a monster, do you, Loki?”

 

“No, you’re one of the best people I know,” Loki admitted.

 

“Exactly!” The Doctor dropped his arms. “And that’s exactly what I see in you, Loki. Just because you’re a Jotun by birth does _not_ mean you’re a monster.”

 

Loki managed a smile. “I wish more people thought like you, Doctor.”

 

The Doctor patted his shoulder again just as the others, sans Hannah, came back into the room. Merlin’s eyes were wide with awe. “Just how big is this place, Doctor?”

 

“Put it this way,” the Doctor replied, cheerfully, “I could draw you a plan, but it would stretch from this side of London across the Irish Sea and all the way over to countries that your people haven’t even learnt of, yet, Merlin. Where’s Hannah?”

 

“Putting the kettle on,” John reported.

 

“Oh.” The Doctor looked slightly guilty. “I was joking.”

 

“Well don’t tell her, Doctor, she’ll kill you.”

 

The Doctor grinned and then straightened up. “Right! Cybermen!”

 

“What are they, Doctor?” Harry asked, and the others got the feeling that he was still slightly sceptical about the existence of alien beings.

 

“The Cybermen were once like us, but they swapped so many of their human parts for robot parts that they eventually became more machine than man and erased almost every single one of their emotions,” the Doctor reeled off, the textbook version of the explanation he had given to Sherlock and John about two years ago, consecutive time. “With me so far?”

 

“Um, what does robot mean?” Merlin ventured.

 

Luckily, John fielded that one, and just as well because both the Doctor and Sherlock turned to look at the young wizard as if he had just said something incredibly stupid. “They’re artificial beings that don’t have feelings, as opposed to humans.”

 

The Doctor went over to the chalkboard and began to make a rough drawing of a typical robot, like those tin wind-up ones children sometimes played with. “That’s a robot, Merlin,” he said, before rubbing the image out with his sleeve and quickly drawing something else. “And that’s a Cyberman!”

 

James folded his arms. “If they’re mainly robots, then what are we worrying for? If I’ve learned anything during my work, it’s that all technology can be overpowered in some way.”

 

“Ah, yes, James,” the Doctor announced, waving the chalk at him, “but remember, the Cybermen were human once, and that is their greatest strength, because you see they understand the way humanity works. Robots don’t, usually, and since most robots are programmed by Asimov’s three laws of robotics-”

 

“Meaning they can’t do humans any harm,” Sherlock cut in for those who looked confused.

 

“They are far less likely to threaten the human race,” the Doctor finished. “But since Cybermen still have that teeny tiny part of their mind that functions in the same way as a human’s, they understand. They get that if a human feels that it or someone it’s close to is being threatened, they can get them to co-operate, you know; work with me or I’ll kill your friends type-thing...” The others nodded. “Plus, they do still have some living components underneath their suits of armour, although you really don’t want to see that if you get a chance to.” He shuddered and tapped the drawing again. “Now, thankfully, they do have their weaknesses, namely gold, to which they are basically allergic.” He hesitated. “Sherlock, best phone Molly and tell her to keep that glittergun handy just in case. Now, where was I? Ah, yes, gold is lethal to the Cybermen, but they can also be stopped by a number of other factors – high explosives, electromagnetic pulses, specialised weaponry and-”

 

“Daleks,” Hannah finished, walking into the room with a tea tray laden with cups, a milk jug and a sugar bowl.

 

The Doctor grinned at her. “Yes, but since we don’t have any of those-”

 

“You do still have some of their guns, though, right, Doctor?” John checked. “I mean, they worked last time.”

 

“Yes, John, we wouldn’t get rid of those.” The Doctor frowned as if John was being incredibly thick.

 

“What are Daleks?” James asked.

 

“Well, they’re almost exactly like the Cybermen, but with one small difference,” Hannah said.

 

“Which is?”

 

“When the two races get into a fight, the Daleks win.”

 

Loki frowned. “I always thought they were a myth, Doctor. That’s what we were told on Asgard, anyway.”

 

“Oh, no, Loki, Daleks are very real,” the Doctor replied, now handing out cups of tea. “They’re the most dangerous and evil creatures to ever exist, so everyone just be grateful it’s only Cybermen we’re dealing with.”

 

James nodded. “And these Cybermen want to destroy the Earth?”

 

“Mm, not quite,” the Doctor replied, stirring his tea. “They want to make humanity like them, they call it “upgrading the universe,” in short they want to turn every living creature into a Cyberman, or Cybershade if they’re animal.”

 

James hesitated. “Right...”

 

Hannah smiled. “You’ll get used to it.”

 

“But thankfully,” the Doctor added, cheerfully, “we’ve had an advanced warning this time, and we can be prepared. No one’s been upgraded yet and that’s something.”

 

Loki took a tentative sip of tea, paying careful heed to Hannah’s “Careful, it’s hot,” warning and found that he actually liked it very much. “How quickly can they do that, Doctor?” he asked.

 

“Extremely,” the Doctor replied, “once they’ve set up a conversion factory, that is.”

 

Harry sat carefully down on a stair, managing not to spill his tea in the process. “The thing is, Doctor, it sounds like all this planet needs to be safe from these things is someone like you, so why bring all of us together for it?”

 

The Doctor grinned and thrust his now empty cup at Hannah before snapping his fingers and pointing at Harry in his usual “Aha!” way. “Ah, because it takes more than physical strength to bring down aliens like the Cybermen, it takes intelligence, human logic, traits that we all share...even Hannah!”

 

“Hey!” Hannah exclaimed, indignantly.

 

The Doctor grinned at her. “Joking, Hannah! Besides, you lot,” and here he pointed at Harry, Merlin, James and Loki, “have special skills of your own you can bring to this team! Loki, what’s your best spell?”

 

A bit taken aback at being the first to be picked out, Loki thought for a second. “Illusions, Doctor.”

 

“Well, how’s that going to help anyone?” Sherlock snorted, disbelievingly.

 

Loki shot him a look. “They distract the enemy in battle so they think they’re attacking you when really you’re moving in for the kill behind them, or have you never been in a battle before?”

 

“Excellent skill!” the Doctor put in before Sherlock could retort. “Harry, your best spell?”

 

“My strongest’s Expelliarmus, for disarming opponents,” Harry explained, for the benefit of those who were unfamiliar with the books or films, “or Expecto Patronum, for protection, although that only works on Dementors. I’m quite good at Shield Charms too.”

 

“And Summoning Spells, right?” the Doctor encouraged.

 

“Right,” Harry agreed.

 

“There you go, then, you’ve got useful skills too,” the Doctor replied, turning to Merlin. “Merlin?”

 

Merlin looked slightly embarrassed. “I don’t really know what I’m best at, Doctor, it usually depends on who or what I’m trying to defend myself from.”

 

“Well, what spells can you do?” the Doctor asked, kindly.

 

“All kinds; summoning, healing, bringing things to life, element manipulation-”

 

“Brilliant!” The Doctor spun around to James. “And I know you’re pretty handy with gadgets and weapons, 007, so I won’t even bother to ask!”

 

James smiled, wryly. “I’m sure I can figure out any technology of yours, certainly, Doctor.”

 

“Put us down for that too, Doctor,” John added with a grin.

 

“Oh, you two have fought Cybermen before, I don’t need to worry,” the Doctor replied, waving airily at them. “Let’s just hope this time around we don’t all end up hanging off the hands of London’s most famous clock tower again.” John and Hannah stifled their laughter and even Sherlock cracked a smile as the others looked confused. “Now-”

 

“Doctor,” Hannah interrupted, “if we’re going to be a team, then shouldn’t we have rules?”

 

“Rules?”

 

“Yeah, you know, like whenever anyone sets foot on the Tardis, don’t mess with time and all that.”

 

The Doctor shrugged and walked over to the chalkboard, flipping it around to the clean side. “Alright, then, Rule Number One – Always Listen to the Doctor! And I mean this, now,” he added, turning to the others with a meaningful look. “You might not believe it but I’m nine hundred years old, give or take a few years, and in all that time travelling through time and space, I’ve learned a lot about the universe, about aliens, about time itself, so therefore if when I tell you something, no matter how mad it might sound, just go with it, because it could just be the key to saving the universe. Um, Rule Two...” He thought for a second. “Rule Two, Don’t Abandon the Team. If we’re going to be a team from now on, then it’s one for all, all for one, not every man for himself.” Hannah cleared her throat. “Or every girl for herself. The key to fighting a race like the Cybermen is teamwork, alright? Rule Three...”

 

“Don’t touch that!” Hannah yelped as a curious Merlin went to touch something on the console and the Doctor spun around. “Sorry, but I’ve no idea what that button does,” Hannah explained, “so it’s best not to risk it.”

 

“Oh, sorry,” Merlin apologised.

 

“No, that’s good!” the Doctor exclaimed, writing again on the board. “Rue Three, No Fiddling with Tardis Console...Unless Advised by the Doctor or Hannah! Rule Four...” Looking embarrassed, he glanced at the others. “Now I do trust you all, please don’t go thinking I don’t, but Rule Four should be No Stealing; it’s so easy to accidently pick up a piece of alien technology that looks harmless but could turn out to be extremely dangerous, or have extreme consequence for the galaxy, so please, everyone, just be careful you don’t.”

 

“Unless necessary, Doctor,” Hannah replied, calmly. “You’ve “borrowed” alien technology before in an emergency, don’t forget.”

 

“Alright, No Stealing Unless Necessary,” the Doctor agreed, marking it down. “Rule Five, No Killing...Unless Necessary. I mean, unless we don’t have any other choice. With some aliens, there are means of defeating them that don’t necessarily involve killing, but sometimes it is a necessity. But I don’t want any of you lot,” and here he pointed around the group with the chalk, “killing anything that doesn’t pose a threat. Got it?” The others nodded. “Good, now, Rule Six...”

 

“How about listen to each other, Doctor?” Hannah suggested.

 

“Ah, yes, good! Listen To and Respect One Another...and Rule Seven, seven should be enough, don’t you think? Rule Seven...”

 

John cleared his throat. “Doctor, if we’re a team, then that means we should make decisions as a team, don’t you think that should be some kind of rule too?”

 

“Ah, yes, a voting system! Excellent!” The Doctor grinned. “All in favour?” Automatically, the others raised their hands. “Rule Seven, All Decisions to Be Made Through Voting System...”

 

James leaned closer to Hannah and muttered “Does he always talk like he’s just had six cups of coffee?”

 

“Come on, then!” the Doctor exclaimed, tossing down the chalk and springing down beside them. “No time to lose, and I can say that legitimately as a Time Lord!”

 

Hannah smiled. “As I said before, Mr Bond, you’ll get used to it.”

 

"Oh, and one more thing!" The Doctor opened the Tardis doors and shouted up to the ceiling. "Heimdall, I don't suppose you could-?" Heimdall somehow seemed to know what the Doctor was thinking, for their was a sudden burst of rainbow light and the Doctor came back into the ship carrying a long golden sceptre which he tossed to Loki. "Here you go, Loki, much better to use on Cybermen than just a dagger."

 

Loki smiled. "I was beginning to miss it, Doctor."

 

"Right, now we're all ready," the Doctor decided, clapping his hands together. "Let's go!"


	3. "You See, There Was This Moth..."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Training" begins...followed by cocoa...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not overly keen on how this chapter turned out, but, oh well...

After a quick word with Mycroft, the Doctor directed the Tardis to a closed hanger area owned by the British Government, alongside an army base camp, which Mycroft stated could be used for whatever training the team felt was necessary.

 

“Oh, yes, this is perfect!” the Doctor decided, tasting the air of the musty, cool building before clapping his hands together. “Now! We’re going to need a practise dummy!”

 

Hannah blanched. “Forget it, Doctor, I draw the line at some things!”

 

“Oh, not you, Hannah!” the Doctor replied. “You’re not a Cyberman, well, not quite, anyway!”

 

He patted her shoulder and bustled back into the Tardis.

 

“What did he mean by that?” Harry asked, frowning.

 

“I’ll explain later,” Hannah said as the Doctor know dragged a rather strange object from inside the Tardis. It consisted of a dressmaker’s dummy on wheels with what looked like the arms from a suit of armour attached to the sides of it, and topped with an actual Cyberman head.

 

“Everyone, say hello to Handles,” the Doctor smiled, proudly, folding his arms.

 

“Handles?” Hannah repeated. “You gave that thing a name?”

 

“What’s wrong with that, Hannah? You have a name, don’t you? Anyway,” the Doctor added, before Hannah could respond to his cheek of having just compared her to an inanimate Cyberman head, “um...Harry, let’s have your best spell.”

 

Harry, somewhat nervous about being the first to be called up, a bit like being back in Hogwarts again, took a tentative step forwards and slowly pulled his wand from the pocket of his jeans. The others stepped back to give him some room as the Doctor offered him an encouraging smile. Harry took a deep breath and then with a flick of the wand exclaimed in a loud, clear voice “Expelliarmus!”

 

The effect was startling even to those who knew it was coming as Handles shot back across the room and hit the opposite wall with a loud THUD!

 

The Doctor grinned. “Excellent! Who’s next?”

 

James laughed, nervously. “Hope you mean for taking on that dummy, Doctor, not being it!”

 

The others laughed.

 

“I’ll try it, Doctor,” Merlin ventured, taking a step forwards.

 

The Doctor quickly retrieved Handles and shoved him back into position. “Whenever you’re ready, Merlin.”

 

Merlin held up a hand and muttered the correct incantation for a jet of fire to shoot from his hand and right through the mannequin holding up Handles. The others blinked as he ventured a nervous “Oops, bit strong.”

 

“Don’t be ridiculous, Merlin,” the Doctor smiled. “If that had been a real Cyberman, you’d have just saved everyone in this room from being Deleted.”

 

Merlin smiled, sheepishly, at the rest of the group. “I’m not used to letting other people see my magic. Back in Camelot, it’s punishable by death.”

 

The Doctor frowned. “Uther commands that?”

 

“Yes, Doctor.”

 

“Hm.” The Doctor shook his head with a thoughtful frown. “Let’s hope Arthur becomes King quickly then.”

 

“Doctor,” John said, glancing from Handles to Merlin. “You’re not planning to use Dalek guns on...that, are you? Otherwise we won’t have anything to practise on.”

 

“Oh, no, you can use proper targets for that,” the Doctor replied, cheerfully, folding his arms. “We’re right by an army base, John, don’t forget, there’s plenty of them around.”

 

“Isn’t that going to be kind of dangerous, Doctor?” Hannah asked, warily.

 

“Only if we point them at each other,” the Doctor shrugged. “Beside, it’ll just be a demonstration, Hannah, doesn’t really matter where you shoot a Cyberman as long as you hit it. Loki, you’re up next.”

 

“Me, Doctor?”

 

The Doctor turned to him in surprise. “Of course, I want to make sure you can-”

 

Handles was suddenly blasted from behind and the others had to spring apart like curtains in order to avoid being hit by it. Grinning, the real Loki tossed the sceptre up in one hand and caught it deftly. “I’ve missed this.”

 

The Doctor laughed as Loki waved away the illusion he had just been distracted by. “Well done, Loki, you had me there!”

 

“Well, I think it proved a point, Doctor,” Loki smirked, looking meaningfully at Sherlock.

 

“And how do you know a Cyberman’s going to fall for _that?”_ Sherlock responded, snarky as ever. “Have you ever met one?”

 

“They’re part human, and humans are easier to fool,” Loki retorted, before glancing over at Hannah. “Most of the time.”

 

“Nice save,” Hannah smiled.

 

“Actually, Sherlock, since Cybermen do focus a lot more logically than humans, they would be more likely to fall for a trick like that than you would,” the Doctor added, “clever as they might be, they can be gullible given the right amount of intelligence to work with.”

 

Loki did his best not to look too smug.

 

“Go on, then, Hannah, you’re up,” the Doctor added.

 

“But you know what I can do, Doctor,” Hannah protested.

 

“Oh, go on, you know you want to!” the Doctor grinned, prodding her forwards.

 

Hannah sighed and took a deep breath before forming a ball of icy wind in her hands and then thrusting it towards Handles. The blast sent the mannequin flying backwards and eventually toppling over before it could hit the wall.

 

“Whoa...” Harry muttered.

 

The Doctor grinned. “Hannah, get the hanger doors open. You three,” he indicated Sherlock, John and James, “come with me.”

 

“Get the doors open, he says,” Hannah muttered, crossing over to them and then trying to figure out how the hell to do it. A quick “Alohamora,” from Harry, however, soon had them open.

 

“Impressive,” Loki mused, without sarcasm.

 

The Doctor came back, carrying a Dalek gun and held it up for everyone to see. “Right, now everyone listen up because this is very, very important! On no account are you to leave these switched on unless you’re using them! I’ve seen too many good people killed by Daleks, I don’t want anyone in this room going the same way! And no aiming them at each other, even as a joke!” So saying he casually tossed the thing into Hannah’s arms, and she jumped, making sure to grab it before it could hit the floor and accidently go off. “Let’s go!”

 

Hannah hoisted the gun over her shoulder and they followed the Doctor out into the camp. Merlin jogged closer to her as they went. “How does that thing work?” he asked.

 

“Magic,” Hannah shrugged, finding it was probably the simplest explanation.

 

“Right, now Hannah’s going to demonstrate how to use one of these safely,” the Doctor said, indicating a target up ahead. “Hannah.”

 

Hoisting the gun into the correct position, Hannah flicked her fringe out of her eyes before taking careful aim at the target. “Safety off,” she instructed, demonstrating, “point and shoot.” The sound of the blast as well as the sheer force of it caused everyone else to jump as the target shattered into oblivion. Replacing the safety catch, Hannah held the gun out to James. “All yours.”

 

“Alright, that’s frightening,” James muttered, taking it from her.

 

The Doctor just smiled, grimly, and watched everyone take a turn at destroying a target. “Aliens are frightening, James,” he stated, “well, when they’re hostile at any rate. We’ve met some good ones too, haven’t we, Hannah?”

 

“Yeah, like the Ood,” Hannah agreed. “They were nice.”

 

“And the Arcateenians,” the Doctor reminded her.

 

And the Vinvocci.”

 

“And the Forest of Cheem.”

 

John laughed. “Alright, alien name-dropping or what?”

 

“So they don’t all have Earth invasion on their minds, then?” James asked.

 

The Doctor grinned. “No, aliens are like humans, you get good ones and bad ones.”

 

Harry looked thoughtful. “My godfather once said that we’re not divided like that, Doctor, that we’ve all got light and dark inside us.”

 

“Ah, yes, and he’s right,” the Doctor replied, gently, “it’s how we use them that makes us what we are.” He glanced over at Loki who said nothing but the Doctor could tell that he was taking those words to heart. “Anyway, moving on, how fast can you lot run?”

 

Hannah rolled her eyes. This was going to be a long, long day.

 

XXX

 

Later, much, much later, time found Hannah, Sherlock, John, Loki, Merlin, Harry and James all sitting against the hanger walls, attempting to get their breath back as the Doctor popped his head around the Tardis doorway and called “Come on, what are you lot all sitting around for? I’m being very, very, exceptionally clever back here and there’s no one to see it!”

 

“Doctor, you’ve had us running about non-stop for about two hours!” Hannah exclaimed. “We haven’t all got your energy!”

 

The Doctor winced. “Three and a half hours, actually, Hannah.”

 

Hannah groaned as Sherlock muttered “Knew it!”

 

“That’s not good,” John panted. “Even professional athletes don’t train non-stop.”

 

“And they don’t do it in heels, either,” Hannah added, sticking out her foot to remind them that she was still wearing her high-heeled boots.

 

“Alright,” the Doctor sighed, but fondly, they noticed, “then let’s rest for a minute. I know, I’ll make you all a nice hot drink!”

 

Hannah suddenly seemed to get a burst of energy back as she scrabbled to her feet. “No, I’ll do that, Doctor! You know I don’t trust you in the kitchen!”

 

The Doctor pouted, looking somewhat hurt as the others chuckled. “Hannah! I’m very hurt!”

 

“You’ll get over it,” Hannah sighed, dragging herself over to the Tardis, and then glancing at the others, indicating Sherlock and Loki in particular. “Boys, play nice while I’m gone.”

 

“Oh, honestly, Hannah,” the Doctor sighed, leaning against the Tardis console as she closed the doors behind her. “Humans! Don’t get me wrong, I love them, love them, love them, love them, but they do have their downsides too. Ow!” he added, automatically, as Hannah swatted at him in passing.

 

“We don’t all have two hearts, Doctor,” she reminded him, and then decided to venture something that had been bothering her for a while. “Doctor...”

 

“Mm?”

 

"I couldn't help noticing,” Hannah said, carefully, “earlier that when Loki was telling us his story, you had the Truth Field on."

 

The Doctor looked embarrassed. "Um, yes, Hannah, I did."

 

"Do you not trust him?"

 

"Of course I trust him, Hannah," the Doctor insisted. "I just had to make sure that it was really Loki we were talking to, that the Chitauri weren't still in control of his mind. I mean I suspected mind control when Mycroft first told us about the attack on New York, and I had to check that the link was really broken. What have I always told you about underestimating aliens, Hannah? We did that once with the Graske and look what happened."

 

Hannah nodded, grimly. "I wonder if they ever found Stavros's head."

 

The Doctor grinned. "Hey, Hannah, you know Stavros rhymes with Davros?"

 

Hannah rolled her eyes. The Doctor had started up his Rhyming Game again. "I'm going to go and make some cocoa," she decided, "and you know what rhymes with that, Doctor? Loco, which is exactly what you are."

 

"Oh, come on, Hannah, that's not fair, play with me properly," the Doctor begged, running after her.

 

Hannah shook her head. "Just go and see if the others want cocoa rather than tea, will you?"

 

Outside the Tardis, the others were finally beginning to get over the Doctor’s “training,” if that was what you could even call running laps whilst pretending that they were being chased by an army of Cybermen – or “Cyberarmy,” as the Doctor called it. John glanced over at Loki and decided to ask politely “So...how long have you actually known the Doctor and Hannah?”

 

Loki looked up in surprise, not really used to having been noticed for once. “Since I was a child,” he replied. “They’ve sort of...jumped in and out of my life, really.”

 

“They do tend to do that,” Sherlock mused.

 

“Is he actually mad or has he just been drinking coffee today?” Harry asked, frowning.

 

“I wouldn’t say he was mad,” John began.

 

“I would,” Sherlock muttered.

 

“Shut up, Sherlock.”

 

“What? The man married Elizabeth the First, that in itself isn’t the trait of a sane person.”

 

Loki and Merlin both looked confused but James and Harry frowned.

 

“I thought she was the Virgin Queen?” James said.

 

“Well, obviously the history books lied,” Sherlock quipped, causing laughter amongst the group again.

 

“Hey, Hannah wants to know if you lot want cocoa rather than tea,” the Doctor began, popping his head out of the Tardis again, and then seeing that they were all laughing, frowned and emerged properly with his hands on his hips. “What? Stop it! Oh, this is Sarah Jane and Rose all over again!”

 

Merlin managed to sober up and change the subject by asking “What’s cocoa, Doctor?”

 

“A very sweet, hot, thick drink, Merlin,” the Doctor replied, still regarding the others with a stern expression.

 

“Well, I’ll try some of that.”

 

“Me too, Doctor,” Loki added.

 

John nodded. “Yeah.”

 

“Yeah, thanks,” Harry agreed.

 

James nodded too.

 

“Digestion slows me down, Doctor, you know that,” Sherlock sighed.

 

“Oh, so that’s what’s been the matter with you all day, then?” Loki quipped.

 

Sherlock glared at him.

 

“Alright, you two,” the Doctor chided, like a parent with unruly children. “And you know Hannah’ll just make you drink it anyway, Sherlock, so-” He stuck his head back inside the Tardis and shouted “Yes, cocoa for all, Hannah!”

 

“Ok!” Hannah called back.

 

“So, what were we all talking about?” the Doctor added, cheerfully.

 

“We were talking about how I first met you, Doctor,” Loki lied, quickly, and even Sherlock had to admire him for that skill, although of course he would never admit to it. “That time you first came to Asgard.”

 

“Ah, yes!” the Doctor replied, sliding down to sit beside him. “And what a great day that was too! Ooh, excellent, Hannah,” he added as she came back with a tray of cocoa. Sherlock grudgingly took one, knowing Hannah well enough by now that if he refused it, she’d be one step away from pouring it into a drip and force-feeding it to him. “I remember it like it was yesterday, we’d just visited a quiet little planet called Adolphus Rigar with great big lush jungles filled with animals most of you have never even heard of, and the first thing that happened when we touched down was...”

 

By the time he had finished and everyone had finished their cocoa, even Sherlock, and was feeling quite refreshed and energised again, Mycroft had walked into the room.

 

“Just thought I’d see how you are all doing,” he informed them, slyly, before noticing the disintegrated targets outside the open hanger doors. “What on earth happened?”

 

The group glanced at one another.

 

“Well, you see,” the Doctor began, with a playful grin, “there was this moth...”


	4. All It Takes Is An Adventure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes it doesn't take much to trust someone...

_So,_ James thought to himself, _the world is in danger from hostile alien slash cyborg beings, and we’re all sitting around drinking cocoa?_

Well, he had to admit, nothing could be more British than that. At least the Americans had the right idea when it came to threats like this, panicking and then planning, preparing themselves for when the time came, but not the British, oh no, whole Keep-Calm-And-Carry-On thing was always taken far too literally in any situation.

 

So, of course, when the Doctor sprang to his feet with a sudden “Ah! Ah-ha-ha!” as if he had suddenly remembered something, naturally the most famous spy in Britain perked up a bit.

 

“What?” Hannah asked. (The others were coming to learn that she was the one most likely to say that to the Doctor, being the one who knew him best and everything.)

 

“I’m an idiot!” the Doctor proclaimed, before dashing back into the Tardis.

 

The others blinked after him.

 

“Well, we already knew that,” Sherlock muttered.

 

Hannah got to her feet and was almost bowled over as the Doctor darted back out again with a great big grin all over his face. “How did we defeat the Cybermen last time, anyone remember?”

 

“With Hannah’s singing,” Sherlock stated, “blocking their signals, and then overloading them with more emotions than they could handle so they all exploded.”

 

Harry shuddered. “Nice.”

 

“Exactly!” The Doctor pointed excitedly at Sherlock. “Should be simple enough to hook up something similar again, of course this time Hannah won’t need to sing, because we know they’re coming, they won’t have time to try and take over human minds because we can anticipate their movements first, jump in and block their own signals. All we need is the right code, and I can find that with a simple computer hack using the Tardis’s universal wide database!”

 

Since he was talking nineteen to the dozen again, or what felt like faster than the speed of light at any rate, the others only caught about half of what he was saying. After a brief moment, Hannah dared venture a “What?”

 

The Doctor looked at her as though she had just dribbled down the front of his shirt, and then, muttering something that sounded very much like “Humans!” he walked back into the Tardis.

 

John grinned as the others, sans Hannah, Sherlock and Loki, looked rather offended by that remark. “He loves humans really.”

 

“He just has a funny way of showing it,” Hannah agreed.

 

“Come on, Hannah, I need you!” the Doctor shouted, and she quickly hopped to it.

 

“Now this I’ve got to see,” Loki muttered as the others followed her into the ship.

 

“Hold this,” the Doctor was saying to Hannah, handing over a cable. “And that, and that.”

 

Hannah shook her head, her arms now loaded with various bits of junk the Doctor would, she knew, eventually rig into something useful. “Hey, Doctor, you know what you forgot to mention earlier, don’t you?”

 

“What did I forget to mention earlier, Hannah?” the Doctor asked, busy fitting two wires together.

 

“Cybermats,” Hannah replied.

 

“Oh, yes, the Cybermen pet scouts,” Sherlock remembered, drily.

 

“Well, you know the drill there, Hannah,” the Doctor replied, before turning to address the others. “Bash them, shoot them, fry them, whatever you can do to stop them from biting you. I need more wires,” he added, before thrusting everything else into Hannah’s arms and jumping into the next room.

 

“Not the iron, Doctor!” Hannah yelped.

 

“Oh, come on, Hannah, I need it!”

 

“No, you don’t!”

 

“Alright, fine, I’ll use the spare printer instead!” The Doctor stalked past the open doorway with a very grumpy look on his face, muttering to himself about being bossed around in his own Tardis and the others did their best not to laugh as Hannah just rolled her eyes and attempted to hold onto everything he had dumped on her.

 

“What do Cybermats look like?” Harry asked, quickly, to keep himself from laughing.

 

“Like large silver weevils,” Hannah replied, trying to show them the measurements with her hands. “About that big, and they move very fast.”

 

“What happens if they bite you?”

 

“Well, it’ll hurt a lot,” the Doctor replied, sounding a lot more cheerful as he walked back into the room, holding up some more wires. “Although I did once meet them when they were capable of infecting their victims with a virus that could turn them into a Cyberman by replacing body cells with metal.”

 

“Nice,” John commented, with a shudder.

 

“Sounds like the Vargas, Doctor,” Hannah pointed out.

 

“And Vargas are?” James asked.

 

“Cacti-like plants that can turn their victims into Vargas if they come into contact with the poison in their spines,” the Doctor replied, sticking his tongue out of the side of his mouth as he concentrated on welding two wires together with the sonic screwdriver. “Native only to the planet Skaro, thankfully, so need to worry about them around here.” The two wires he had just put together fizzled and then fell limply apart. “Oh!” The Doctor groaned, throwing them down and throwing his hands up again. “Hannah, why does Time have to be so complicated? We could just travel back and re-use everything then!”

 

Hannah offered him a sympathetic smile as she put down everything he had just foisted onto her.

 

“Doctor,” James sighed, “I can believe this ship travels in space. I mean, I’ve seen technology that would baffle the ordinary human. I can even believe it’s bigger on the inside, but until I see it for myself, I honestly can’t believe it travels in time.”

 

The Doctor grinned.

 

“No!” Hannah exclaimed, shaking her head. “No, no, no, Doctor, I know that look!”

 

“What look?”

 

“That’s your “I’m going to be very clever and show off again” look.”

 

“I have one of those?”

 

“Doctor!”

 

“Hannah,” the Doctor sighed, folding his arms, “which one of us actually owns this Tardis?”

 

“You mean which one of us actually _stole_ this Tardis?” Hannah countered.

 

 _“Borrowed,”_ the Doctor insisted, with a scowl.

 

“Figures,” Sherlock muttered.

 

“Oh, come on, Hannah, it’s just a quick trip, what could happen?” the Doctor added. Hannah immediately began to count on her fingers. “Now what are you doing?”

 

“Just calculating the amount of times you’ve said that to me, and been wrong,” Hannah replied.

 

The Doctor rolled his eyes and then shoved the lever on the console that swung the doors shut before pushing the one that immediately flicked the Tardis into life. Harry, James, Merlin and even Loki jumped as the ship made its usual take-off noise of grinding and scraping gears.

 

“Two minutes, Hannah, that’s all we need,” the Doctor insisted.

 

Hannah exhaled with obvious irritation, hands on hips, but said nothing.

 

“Um, where are we going?” Merlin asked, nervously.

 

“Back in time, Merlin,” the Doctor replied, promptly, “back to way before even you were on this planet.” The Tardis began to scrape and grind again, except this time the others were prepared for it. “Just make sure you stay as close to the Tardis as possible, and you’ll be perfectly safe.”

 

Sherlock wrinkled his nose. “Doctor, you’re not-?” The Doctor opened the Tardis doors and crossed the floor in three strides to step through them. The others followed, tentatively, and Sherlock finished his sentence with an “Oh, but you have!”

 

Harry gulped. “Are they... _real,_ Doctor?”

 

“Would you care to find out?” the Doctor smiled.

 

“No, thanks.”

 

“What are they, Doctor?” Merlin asked, as a few of the enormous creatures turned their long necks in their direction, a few of them chomping contentedly on the leaves they had just torn out of the trees, not really bothered by the presence of the eight humans and the large blue box that had just materialised out of nowhere.

 

“Dinosaurs,” the Doctor replied, folding his arms, “prehistoric creatures that roamed this land before humans did. Impressive, aren’t they?”

 

“Are they your ancestors?” Loki asked, glancing at Hannah.

 

Hannah laughed. “I hope not, Loki, some of them only had brains the size of a pea.”

 

“Well, that might explain a few things,” Loki muttered, shooting a glance at Sherlock.

 

Sherlock scowled at him. “And I’ll bet your ancestors just crawled out from beneath a rock.”

 

“Ice, actually,” Loki replied, coolly.

 

“Alright, you two,” the Doctor chided, lightly. “No, Loki, dinosaurs were here even before human ancestors began to evolve. They were wonderful creatures, though, powerful, intelligent, and then they were all wiped out in a single explosion when the Earth-”

 

“Collided with something big,” James finished, nodding.

 

“Collided with a spaceship,” the Doctor corrected him, “and I should know, I watched it happen.” He turned and smiled smartly at James. “I take it you believe what the Tardis is capable of now?”

 

“Alright, Doctor, I take it back,” James agreed. “She does travel in time.”

 

A few of the Brontosaurus suddenly turned their heads instinctively, sniffing the air, and then began to retreat, with Stegosaurus and Triceratops close behind them.

 

“What’s going on?”Merlin wondered aloud, and then everyone heard the source of the commotion before it emerged from the trees, an enormous T-Rex that stomped forwards, scattering the smaller dinosaurs at its feet, and even before it snapped up a tiny lizard in its jaws, those in the group who had never seen one before, in real life or otherwise, knew instantly that this was not a friendly dinosaur.

 

“O...k, we should probably leave now,” the Doctor murmured, reaching out to pull open the Tardis door, “she looks hungry.” Hannah, however, instead of running back into the Tardis, took a few steps forwards, leaving the safety of the force field that surrounded the ship. The Doctor had, after all, said “she,” and the last time the pair of them had travelled back to this period in time, along with Sherlock and Molly, she had been chased by and subsequently befriended a Tyrannosaurus Rex following a fight with some vicious Mosasaurus and hungry Raptors. Was this the same T-Rex? “Hannah, come on,” the Doctor commanded, warily.

 

“Hang on a second,” Hannah murmured, taking another step forwards. The dinosaur had spotted her and looked rather surprised that she wasn’t running away from it. Hesitantly, Hannah reached out a hand as it began to stampede over to her, its feet thudding the ground so hard it was a wonder the vibrations didn’t knock her over. When it was a few feet away from her, it stopped and she could feel its hot breath wash over her as it suddenly roared.

 

“Not my dinosaur,” she muttered, turning tail and making a run for it. Spurred by the roar, the others quickly leapt into action too and shot into the Tardis one by one. Thankfully for Hannah, in spite of her high-heeled boots, she was able to reach the Tardis shields before the T-Rex could try and snap her up and she threw herself inside as the Doctor quickly set the ship into launch mode and slammed the doors shut behind her.

 

As the sound of the engines finally faded out, the group let out the breaths that had just been holding in. Hannah got to her feet, leaning against the Tardis console as the others exchanged glances and then, inexplicably, the Doctor began to chuckle, and it wasn’t long before the others were infected with a fit of laughter too, for no real reason other than the fact that they had just been chased by a hungry carnivorous dinosaur and lived to tell the tale. Suddenly, all the tension that had previously been in the air seemed to dissipate, like morning mist or the smoke after a small fire, as the threat of potentially being eaten by a T-Rex now seemed incredibly funny, for no reason whatsoever. Perhaps it was the adrenaline, or perhaps just the rush that came from being that close to death, again, since it was a concept that they were all too familiar with from past experience, but whatever the case, the Doctor, Hannah, Sherlock, John, Loki, Harry, Merlin and James all just stood where they were and laughed as if they had just been watching the funniest Shakespeare comedy ever written.

 

“You do this all the time?” Merlin managed to say once he had recovered, rubbing his ribs. “I mean...like that?”

 

He pointed to the doors.

 

“Run away from danger?” the Doctor grinned. “Well, yes, as a matter of fact, it’s what we’re best at, isn’t it, Hannah?”

 

Hannah laughed again.

 

“No, I mean just travel somewhere and do things like that, meet monsters and...stuff?” Merlin finished, lamely, losing his train of thought.

 

“Pretty much,” Hannah replied.

 

“Now, where were we?” the Doctor added. “Oh, yes, saving the world from Cybermen...”

 

The others watched him, amused, as he began to fiddle with the console again. Sometimes it was strange how quickly you could come to trust and respect someone, and sometimes it felt like the most natural thing in the world, to suddenly know that someone you had only just met really did know what they were talking about. And it was like that meeting the Doctor, suddenly in an instant he became the most trustworthy person in the entire universe.

 

Sometimes all it took was a little adventure...


	5. "He Fell Out Of A Window"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sherlock decides to resort to unscrupulous methods to get a man to co-operate, whilst the Doctor devises a plan to shut down several Underground platforms...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, my dear readers, do not stress, this will be finished, just had a major bout of writer's block lately when it comes to these guys, plus almost got put off by a certain SOMEONE'S rather snide comments about this story, but then someone else left a comment that perked me up and pulled me back to this frame of mind. So, given that it's been a while, this chapter might feel a bit clunky compared to the rest, but that's only because I'd almost forgotten where the story is going, but anyway please be kind. And it might seem like a slow story, but let's face it, back in the day, that was the way Doctor Who stories used to be (back before Moffat came to almost ruin them) and I quite like a slow build-up before the inevitable "Argh, it's the aliens!" bit. And on a final note, writing Doctor Who is actually harder than it looks.

 

It had been a few days since that initial first day, and Hannah was getting worried about the Doctor. Worried because the Doctor seemed to be worried, and that was never a good sign. His usual cheerful, mad-in-the-best-of-ways demeanour seemed to have vanished, replaced by eerie quietness and a lot of thoughtful concentration. She knew by now, though, that it was best not to disturb him when he was like this, and instead focused her attentions on teaching the others about Cybermen.

 

On day number four, however, she was woken by the Doctor shaking her out of a peaceful dream. “Come on, Hannah, up, up, up!” he commanded in his usual hyperactive way.

 

“Why?” Hannah groaned, still half asleep. “What time is it?”

 

“Six o’clock!”

 

“In the _morning?”_

 

“Oh, come on!” The Doctor grabbed her arm and yanked her out of the hammock. “Get dressed!” He wrinkled his nose as he took in her dishevelled appearance, in particular her overly frizzy hair. “Hannah, have you been sticking your fingers in an electrical socket or something?”

 

“Get out!” Hannah replied, indignantly, pushing him out of the room.

 

“Hurry up!” the Doctor called, sprinting over to the console room. By the time Hannah managed to stagger into some clothes and follow him into the room, fixing her hair in the process, everyone else had gathered, all of them besides the Doctor and Sherlock looking still half-asleep. “Right, now everyone’s here,” the Doctor rushed, excitedly, “take a look at this!”

 

He spun one of the several Tardis computer screens around to face them. Catching it by the handles, Hannah squinted as the others came up behind her. It was Loki who finally said it.

 

“They don’t look much like Cybermen, Doctor.”

 

“I know,” the Doctor replied, folding his arms. “But that’s not important. I think they might be Cybershades coming through first, judging by the outline of them, but even more importantly they look to be clearer than before, not quite so blurry.” He fixed them all with a meaningful look. “They’re getting closer. This footage was taken an hour ago by a commuter from Victoria just as he was getting off the station. It’s only a minute long before they fade again.”

 

“So we’re going Underground, then?” Hannah asked, rubbing her eyes fiercely to keep herself awake.

 

“Underground?” Merlin repeated.

 

“Not literally,” John began to explain.

 

“Yes, we’re going down to Victoria,” the Doctor replied, setting the Tardis in motion. “I want to take a look at some of the places they’ve been materialising lately.”

 

“Why?” Harry, still half asleep like the rest, had to ask.

 

The Doctor gave him _that_ look, the one that those who knew him well, people like Rose Tyler and Sarah Jane Smith, called the way he “looks at you as if you’ve just dribbled all down the front of his shirt.” Harry flinched, slightly, wondering what he had said wrong. Then, the Doctor shook his head.

 

“You know, I’m beginning to think that Heimdall made a mistake,” he muttered, and the Tardis touched down before anyone else could respond to this cheek. “Come on, then, let’s get going!”

 

Sherlock, the only one of the group besides the Doctor to be as alert as a hunting dog, was the first to follow, striding at the Doctor’s heels as the others sluggishly brought up the rear. Merlin blinked at the dark, somewhat cold tunnelled area they had landed in, not entirely sure what to make of it. Thankfully, John was on hand to help.

 

“It’s the Underground Train Line,” he said, quietly, “it’s a quicker way of getting around London that by horse and coach.”

 

Merlin nodded, still trying to take it all in. “So, who’s Victoria?”

 

“This is Victoria!” the Doctor announced, tapping the station sign. “This area! Well, what are you all waiting around for? Get scouting!”

 

“What’s the magic word?” Hannah called.

 

 _“Homenum Revelio,_ Hannah, two words!” the Doctor called back, cheekily, whipping out his sonic screwdriver and searching the walls. When he began muttering to himself and tapping each brick he came to, the others took it as a sign to search for whatever they were trying to find in their own ways. Sherlock scanned the floor for anything out of place or unusual that the others would have missed, John, Hannah and James began examining with their hands and the others simply cast spells about the area until-

 

“I’ve got something!” Merlin called, suddenly, and the Doctor rushed up to him. Merlin was holding up both hands in a cupped position, from which a bright white light was glowing and sending a straight line of light like a torch beam into the air just above the tracks. Instantly, the Doctor whipped out a pair of 3D glasses from his pocket and nodded. “Yep, Voidstuff! Just to confirm, it’s Cybers, alright!”

 

“Voidstuff?” James repeated.

 

“Hannah?” the Doctor asked, busily scanning the area with his sonic screwdriver.

 

“Way ahead of you, Doctor,” Hannah replied, fishing out another pair of 3D glasses from her rucksack and handing them to James. “Take a look.”

 

James blinked but took them, readying himself for anything. “What the-?”

 

“Like I said, Voidstuff!” the Doctor called over his shoulder.

 

“It’s just a residue from crossing the Void between worlds,” Hannah explained, holding up her hand so that James could see that she was also covered in it. "See, it's everywhere!"

 

“You two only aren’t coated in it because you’ve never crossed the Void,” the Doctor informed Sherlock and John, “and the same for you, Loki. Asgard exists in this world, not a parallel one.” James removed the glasses and passed them to Merlin. “The Cybermen crossed the Void once before,” the Doctor muttered, “passing themselves off as ghosts...” Then, he frowned and suddenly, to the alarm of everyone, he seemed to go mad as he smacked a hand to his forehead and yelled “Oh!” before spinning around to face them all, looking madder than usual with his 3D glasses still in place. “That’s it! Of course, why didn’t I think about it before?”

 

“They’ve done this before, Doctor,” Sherlock realised, coming to the same conclusion. “So why do the same trick again?”

 

“Surely they’d realise we’d be prepared this time,” the Doctor agreed, speaking very fast and he nodded, vigorously. “Yes, so-!”

 

“What if it’s a trap to catch us unprepared?” Sherlock finished.

 

“Exactly! Have us do one thing whilst really making us do another!” the Doctor concluded with a grin, raising his arm in delight. “Ha ha!” Sherlock hesitated before figuring ‘ _why not?’_ and letting the Doctor slap his open hand in a high-five.

 

“Hang on a minute, what are you saying, Doctor?” John asked. “You mean this is a distraction?”

 

“Exactly!” The Doctor nodded again. “Whilst we’re all focusing on all the places they’ve been materialising so far, they could potentially pop up somewhere else and sneak up on us when our guard’s down.”

 

The others blinked at him.

 

“So we’ve got to search the whole of London?” Hannah asked, adding sarcastically “Great!”

 

The Doctor looked offended. “Have you really lost your faith in me already, Hannah?”

 

Sherlock shook his head. “Hold on a minute, Doctor.” He quickly searched through his mind palace. “You told us that these Cybermen were built by a disabled genius, and if they still retain human intelligence, we could be falling into their trap already.”

 

“What do you mean?” Harry asked.

 

“I mean what the Doctor’s just said could be the conclusion they were hoping we’d come to,” Sherlock replied.

 

Loki glanced at John. “Does he always talk in riddles?”

 

“Well, if you’re not so intelligent that you need layman’s terms,” Sherlock began with a scowl.

 

“Boys, not here,” Hannah interrupted.

 

“I see what you’re saying,” James said, stepping closer to the Doctor. “It could be a double bluff. If they want us to think that their plan is to take them by surprise, then we could be preparing for the wrong kind of attack altogether.”

 

“So, how are we supposed to know?” Merlin asked, frowning.

 

The Doctor thought for a second and then nodded. “Only one thing for it, we’ll have to grab one and see what it’s got to say.”

 

 _“Grab_ one?” Sherlock repeated, looking slightly offended by the Doctor’s casual use of a term that ought to be applied to sandwiches rather than alien beings.

 

“How?” Loki asked.

 

“Easy! With technology!” the Doctor replied.

 

“You’re forgetting something, Doctor,” Hannah ventured. “Cybershades can’t talk.”

 

“You’re forgetting something too, Hannah,” the Doctor countered with a grin. “I can communicate with every living creature that exists.”

 

Something suddenly growled close by, and everyone whipped around, expecting to see an animal of some kind, perhaps even a Cybershade peering around at them from inside the tunnel, but there was nothing.

 

“What kind of creature was that, then, Doctor?” John frowned.

 

“You should know by now, John, you’re a doctor,” the Doctor replied, cheerfully. “That was the cry of the lesser known very hungry human.”

 

“Well, if you’re going to drag us out before breakfast, Doctor, you have to expect it,” Hannah pointed out.

 

“Fine!” The Doctor tucked the glasses away in his pocket. “You lot want your breakfast and I want to talk to the man who took that footage before we do anything else, so off you trot and meet us at Wilton Road, Flat Thirty Seven! Ok? Ok! Come on, Sherlock!”

 

“I’ll go with you,” John put in quickly, sharing a look with Hannah. Neither of them really trusted the Doctor and Sherlock going into something like this without supervision.

 

“Alright, see you in a bit,” Hannah shrugged, before muttering to John, “I’ll bring you a coffee.”

 

John nodded and set off after the Doctor and Sherlock both of whom were already speed-walking away. As it transpired later, sending John with them had been the right thing to do. After introducing Merlin and Loki to the wonder that was the humble bacon sandwich, the group quickly made their way in the direction the Doctor had guided them and were just approaching the flat when a man appeared seemingly from the sky and crashed into the bins in front of them, with a loud thud, before flopping to the floor.

 

“What the-?” James exclaimed, quickly recovering from the initial shock.

 

Before anyone could come up with a theory, John suddenly came hurtling out of the building.

 

“What the hell just happened?” Hannah exclaimed.

 

“Um...” John looked like he was trying his best to remain serious, even though he wanted to laugh too. “He sort of...fell out of a window.”

 

Hannah blinked, knowing what that meant full well. “I’ll rephrase that; how the hell did it happen?”

 

“Well, apparently, Sherlock doesn’t take kindly to vicious landlords taking a swing at the Doctor,” John informed her, going over to check that the man was still alive, although judging by the groan he emitted a second later, he was. Whether he was alright, of course, was another matter.

 

“Sherlock, there was really no need to do that, you know,” the Doctor said, emerging from the building with Sherlock quick behind him. He didn’t seem to have any injuries, Hannah noted, but then, that was the Doctor for you, his body worked differently to other peoples’.

 

“It’s the only way to get through to some people,” Sherlock scowled, before yanking the man back up by his shirt lapels. “Shall we try this again? My acquaintance asks you leave the room and you do as he says, agreed?”

 

The man scowled at him. “I’ll call the police.”

 

“Oh, please do, I’m sure Detective Inspector Lestrade would love to hear that you’ve just assaulted the man who’s trying to save Earth from a vicious alien attack,” Sherlock retorted. “By all means, phone him.”

 

The man scowled again, wincing at the same time, before wriggling out of Sherlock’s grip and pointed at him with a dirty look on his face. “Five minutes, and if you aren’t out by then, I’ll call them, I don’t care who you are!”

 

“Suits us,” Sherlock replied, calmly, before pulling open the door and gesturing for Hannah to precede them. “Ladies first.”

 

Hannah shook her head, pressed John’s coffee into his hand and strode into the building. “Forget Lestrade, I’m telling Molly.”

 

Sherlock’s only response was to give her a small shove forwards.

 

“Can’t say I approve of your methods, Sherlock,” the Doctor sighed, following, “but you’re right, let’s try this again, and be quick about it.”

 

The commuter in question turned out to be a thin, black man named Joe who couldn’t have been in bed more than two hours before the Doctor, Sherlock and John came knocking. Unlike his landlord, however, he didn’t seem to want any trouble and willingly answered any questions to put to him.

 

“It’s just like it shows on the film, mate,” he insisted. “One minute everything’s normal, like, and then the next thing you know it’s like a bubble or something’s opening up in mid air, like in those science fiction films where people can zap from place to place through portal.”

 

“And here for a full minute,” the Doctor mused, reviewing the footage again.

 

“Well, that’s not so bad,” Harry pointed out.

 

The Doctor frowned at him. “On the contrary, it means their technology’s getting closer to crossing through the Void. Sometimes seconds are as vital as hours, don’t forget that.”

 

Joe frowned but just shrugged off whatever the Doctor meant by “their technology” and “crossing through the Void,” as he folded his arms. “Anyway, just had to get it on film, you know, it’s just what you do, isn’t it, when stuff like this happens? Do you want a copy? I can make you a disk.”

 

“No need,” the Doctor chirped, suddenly his usual quirky self again as he tossed the phone back to Joe. “Better press on, world to save and all that! Let’s go, everyone!”

 

“Sorry about him,” Hannah added as the Doctor quickly sprinted back out through the door. “We’ll be in touch.”

 

“Come on!” the Doctor called.

 

Joe shuffled his feet nervously. “Listen, I get you doing that to Shaun just know after he hit your friend, I mean he can be pretty aggressive sometimes but-”

 

“Don’t worry, we’ll make sure he doesn’t crack down hard on you for it,” Sherlock finished, tucking his hands into his pockets and turning on his heel to follow the Doctor.

 

“What we need to do,” the Doctor stated, striding so fast that the others had to jog to keep up with him, “is map out where all these anomalies keep popping up and try and contain them.”

 

“Contain rips from the Void between worlds; you can do that?” James frowned.

 

“Oh, yes!” the Doctor said. “There’ll be Voidstuff and lots of it anywhere something tries to come through, so-!” He spun around abruptly, causing the others, bar Sherlock who had seen it coming a mile off, to skid to a halt and almost crash into him. “We need a map!”

 

Ten minutes later, with a large Underground map stretched out on the floor of the Tardis in front of them, the group leaned over as the Doctor began pinning lengths of string across the stations, making what looked like a crude constalation of the whole thing.

 

“They’ll sell these in the future, Doctor?” John asked.

 

“Oh, yes, long after you’re gone, of course, John,” the Doctor replied, cheerfully, his tongue sticking out so that he could concentrate. “Now...” He clapped his hands together in triumph and turned, expectantly, to the others, evidently waiting for someone to ask the obvious question so that he could show off his cleverness again.

 

“What are we looking at, Doctor?” James asked, eventually.

 

“Well, so far there’s been evidence of the Cybermen popping up in Victoria, Gloucester Road, Edgware Road, Moorgate and Blackfriars.” The Doctor circled the marked-out area with his finger. “Look at the pattern.”

 

“It’s all in a cluster,” James observed, thoughtfully. “They’re all close together.”

 

“And yet scattered,” the Doctor agreed.

 

“Perfect attack formation,” John noted.

 

Hannah frowned. “And easier from the to spread out from there and through the rest of London.”

 

The Doctor nodded, thoughtfully. “Why the Underground, though? Why not out in the open like before?”

 

“They did that last time, you’d learn to expect it,” Sherlock replied.

 

“If they come through in the Underground, a lot of people are going to get killed,” Harry pointed out. “People use that place all the time, well, Muggles do, anyway.”

 

“Then we’ll just have to shut those platforms down,” the Doctor grinned.

 

“How?” Loki asked.

 

“Easy!” The Doctor held up the pad of psychic paper. “We’re on official business for health and safety, order of the British Governement! To the wardrobe!”

 

“Wardrobe?” James muttered, bewildered.

 

Hannah smiled. “Come on.”

 

“Question,” Merlin ventured as they followed after the Doctor. “What’s a Muggle?”


	6. Something Nasty In The Tunnel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The UK Avengers try and catch an invading alien, but is all really as it seems?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DO NOT look up the creature that appears in this chapter if you don't want spoilers. It's an alien that appeared in DW back in the sixties and hasn't been used since, and that's all you need to know about it for now. All credit to the original inventor of it.

“This is never going to work,” James muttered as the Doctor approached the nearest security assistant, greeting him with a cheery smile and the psychic paper in his hands.

 

Loki just grimaced, wishing they were wearing something other than the working dark blue overalls the Doctor had dragged out from the vast Tardis wardrobe – not long after those not familiar with the Tardis wardrobe had marvelled over how the Doctor had such a collection of so many different styles of clothing for almost every occasion and from just about every single time period that ever existed – since they were making him feel a bit too human. The others didn’t seem too fazed by having to put them on over their normal clothing, although Hannah seemed a little miffed about changing her favourite blue high-heeled boots for a pair of flat black working shoes, the Doctor having pointed out to her that people in their supposed line of work wouldn’t wear such things to close off a section of the Underground, and Sherlock seemed to be taking it all in his stride, too busy concentrating on solving the next part of the mystery than complaining about his clothing.

 

“Mycroft’ll back us up, right?” Hannah muttered to him. “You know, if anyone wants to check?”

 

“They won’t,” Sherlock muttered back. “Look at the man, no relationship, a mortgage to pay and still recovering from a diabetic fit. People like that want to keep their heads down at work, they won’t think twice about whatever’s on that paper. See?” he added, as the security man finally nodded and waved the Doctor through. Whistling a cheerful tune, the Doctor beckoned to the others and they followed him down the steps and onto Victoria. Once there, the Doctor pulled out his map whilst the others rummaged in Hannah’s rucksack for the reels of yellow and black tape she had stuffed in there earlier at the Doctor’s urging.

 

“Now, let me see...” The Doctor mused, examining the map. “Once we’ve blocked these ways off, and the people upstairs have diverted the train lines to not make any stops here, we need to try and contain whatever’s going to come through the Void here. These have been the only places so far where they’ve been coming through, so it’s safe to assume that the walls of time are weaker here, therefore it’s the best place for them to try...”

 

“How do you plan to contain them, Doctor?” James asked, sceptically.

 

“Like this,” the Doctor replied, pulling a few pieces of strange-looking equipment from the gym bag he had brought down with him. The others blinked, taking in the seven speaker-like devices polished up like mirrors and connected with a wire, followed by a small box topped with an alien-looking satellite dish. “Easy to put together, although only small, only enough power to contain one Cyberman or Cybershade or whatever comes through the Void next.”

 

“How?” Loki asked. “How can something like that capture a living creature?”

 

The Doctor set up the equipment, arranging the speaker-boxes in a half circle with the satellite dish in between the third and fourth box, before pressing a button on top of it. Immediately, an eerie bioluminescent blue-violet light emitted from the thing with a low hum, forming a large tube of what looked like a force-field circling nothing. “Like that, Loki,” the Doctor replied, smartly, as the others stared at the field, impressed. “Once something’s in there, it can’t get out unless I switch the field off.”

 

“Or unless it blows up,” Hannah added.

 

“Or unless it blows-” the Doctor began to agree and then shot her an annoyed look. “Oh, very funny, Hannah!”

 

“Alright, I admit, that’s impressive,” James agreed. “How big would one of those have to be to contain more than one Cyber...being?”

 

“About the same size as the Houses of Parliament,” the Doctor replied, casually, switching off the device before turning a dial on one of the speakers. “There, now we’ll get a bit of warning for when the Void opens again, give us a chance to set up.”

 

“How much of a chance?” Hannah asked.

 

“About ten seconds,” the Doctor replied.

 

“Ten seconds?” John repeated.

 

“Oh, don’t look so worried, John, you can get a lot done in ten seconds,” the Doctor replied, picking up his equipment by stacking the boxes on top of one another and the satellite on top of them. “I once helped Einstein work out his theory of relativity in ten seconds.”

 

“Right,” Hannah murmured, following him as the Doctor ducked under the tape and made his way to the next platform to be shut off, which was Gloucester Road. Of course they got some odd looks from commuters as they passed by, but then that was to be expected. This was, after all, London.

 

“Attention, all passengers needing to disembark at Victoria, Gloucester Road, Edgware Road, Moorgate and Blackfriars, these platforms have been temporarily disabled owing to repair work; we advise you to disembark at your next nearest station! The Underground staff apologise for the unexpected inconvenience this may cause, please listen out for further announcements!” the metallic voice rang out through the speakers as the seven overall-clad men and one overall-clad young woman made their way down the steps.

 

“Yes, sorry about this,” the Doctor called cheerfully to passers-by. “Bit of a leak, nothing to worry about. Leave it to the professionals.”

 

“We don’t exactly _look_ very professional, Doctor,” Harry muttered.

 

“No, but this is London, they’ll go with it,” the Doctor reported, cheerfully. The tube had already sailed past and Merlin stopped for a moment to admire the swift whoosh of brightly-coloured metal that looked something like those odd contraptions on wheels they had passed outside on the roads, but much larger and sleeker.

 

“How fast do they go, Doctor?” he asked.

 

“Faster than a carriage, but not faster than the speed of light,” the Doctor grinned, placing the equipment on the platform. “They can go up to about 50-60 miles per hour. Fast,” he added, when Merlin still looked confused.

 

“When they’re not delayed by problems on the line or something,” James added, shaking his head. “I almost missed catching a couple of villains because of signalling problems once, that was not a pleasant day!”

 

As the Doctor began fiddling with the equipment again, Loki cast an uneasy glance in the direction in which the tube had disappeared. The tunnel was eerily dark, like a starless night on Jotunheim, and something about the unnatural chill it gave off made him feel he was staring straight into the jaws of Hel.

 

“AH!” the Doctor exclaimed, recapturing everyone’s attention again. “Ah-ha-ha!”

 

“What?” Merlin asked, eagerly.

 

“The Void’s opening up again!” The Doctor threw Hannah a triumphant glance. “I told you shifting a bit into the future so we could use the Visualiser was a good idea!” Hannah just rolled her eyes. “Everyone stand back, and get ready...just in case this doesn’t work!”

 

“What are the chances of it not working, Doctor?” James asked, frowning.

 

“About forty eight percent!” the Doctor called back, cheerfully.

 

The friends backed up as something was indeed materialising between the speaker boxes, although none of them could make out a proper shape. It looked, for want of a better word, like a blob of grey nothingness, but all seven of the Doctor’s companions felt a shiver run down their spines knowing what they were looking at was nothing less than alien. The Doctor remained calm as he switched on the machine, trapping the creature inside the force field whilst the others, remembering what he had said, readied themselves in their usual defensive positions just in case of attack.

 

“It’ll manifest itself properly soon, don’t worry!” the Doctor called out.

 

Sherlock squinted at the being inside the force field. Something was off about it, something about the shape of it, or was it the size, felt off somehow. Before he could say anything, though, there was a sudden bang and the Doctor yelped “OOPS!” as the “ghost” vanished in a crackling of energy that sounded very much like a sparkler being lit on Bonfire Night, before the machine fell apart completely, whilst his friends shielded themselves, and each other, from being singed by flinging their arms in front of their faces until the crackling had stopped.

 

“What did you _do,_ Doctor?” Hannah squeaked as the others coughed and waved away the acrid smoke that had been left behind.

 

“Er...I may have accidently set the voltage too high and, um, destroyed it,” the Doctor admitted, sheepishly, bending down besides what was left of the Cyber-figure. “Looks like most of it got projected back to wherever it came from.”

 

He picked up something white, stringy and sticky from the floor.

 

“Urgh,” Hannah shuddered.

 

“Come on, Hannah, you’ve seen flesh before,” the Doctor said, getting to his feet.

 

“I know, but still...”

 

“That’s flesh?” Harry asked, pointing to it. “That’s what happens to humans when they get converted into Cybermen?”

 

“I’m afraid so,” the Doctor answered, grimly.

 

“To think that could have been me once,” Hannah muttered.

 

“You’d have made a very cute Cyberwoman, Hannah,” the Doctor replied, fondly.

 

“You think so?”

 

“Yep! Here!” The Doctor tossed the flesh remains to John. “You’re a doctor, see what you can do with it! That was a joke, by the way.”

 

“Something’s odd about this, Doctor,” Sherlock said, stepping up to examine the equipment. “I can feel it.”

 

“Can it be fixed?” Merlin asked as the two began to fiddle with the wires.

 

“Yes, it won’t take long,” the Doctor replied, whipping out the sonic screwdriver. “Next time, though...”

 

As he started to mutter to himself and Sherlock, Loki glanced again in the direction of the tunnel, wondering what it was about it that made him so uneasy. It was the same feeling he usually got on the middle of a battlefield when an ambush was about to be sprung on him. James followed his gaze. “What’s up?” he asked.

 

“I don’t know,” Loki admitted. “I’ve just got an uneasy feeling...call it instinct if you like...”

 

James glanced at the Doctor and coughed to get his attention. “Tell you what, Doctor, would it be worth having an explore around here anyway, just in case we’ve missed something?”

 

“By all means, do, but be careful,” the Doctor replied, waving carelessly over his shoulder at him. “If a tube comes towards you, throw yourselves against the tunnel walls and hang on.”

 

Wordlessly, the group split themselves in mutual agreement; John opting again to stay near the Doctor and Sherlock just in case of argument and the others taking the tunnel that had so unnerved Loki. Hannah felt a shudder go through her as they stepped inside, her own instincts telling her that danger lay ahead, although she reflected, they were, after all, in a dark train tunnel, such a place was always going to be dangerous.

 

“I get what you mean, Loki,” James said, automatically pulling his gun from his back pocket and holding it at the ready just in case he needed to use it. “This does feel sort of...unnatural. Careful with those flames, Merlin,” he added as the latter had just conjured a ball of fire in his hands to help light their way, followed shortly by one of Harry’s “Lumos” spells. “There could be flammable chemicals down here.”

 

“I thought these places were supposed to be painted with luminous signs,” Hannah sighed, watching her feet carefully in case of lose tracks or large stones.

 

“Perhaps they need repainting,” James shrugged.

 

“Or perhaps the Cybermen did something to them,” Harry suggested.

 

Hannah burst out laughing. “I think they’ve got worse things planned for the human race than petty vandalism, Harry.” That earned a few chuckles all around and served to make them all relax a little more. They had just rounded a corner and Loki was beginning to worry whether he had just imagined that feeling of danger earlier when they were all stopped in their tracks by a loud, hollow roar that could only be described as inhuman. Merlin and Harry lifted their lights but whilst the path in front of them looked clear, their magic didn’t reach far enough to light the spot of blackness in the distance. As a second roar rang out, the five noticed two things; one, that they had all automatically taken a step backwards, and two, the second roar was closer than the first had been.

 

“Please tell me that’s just another “tube?” Loki ventured.

 

Hannah furrowed her brow. “I know that roar...” As a third roar rang out, louder again this time, somewhere between a groan and a growl, her eyes suddenly widened. “Run!”

 

The others had already worked out that that was when they needed to do, and as they turned tail, they could hear what sounded like a multiple-tentacled body scrabbling over the tracks after them. Luckily, fear and adrenaline can make a person move faster, and before long the five of them emerged from the tunnel, only to see that the Doctor, Sherlock, John and the equipment were nowhere in sight.

 

“Now where’ve they gone?” Hannah yelped.

 

Loki turned as the creature following them let out another roar and caught a glimpse of the thing for the first time. The reason they hadn’t spotted it earlier was quickly explained because the creature was completely black in colour, it’s body consisting of skin that had a jellyfish-like sheen to it covering a large, blobby frame. Two almost completely white eyes dangled from thick waving stalks atop its head, its mouth narrow and gaping and filled with the sharpest teeth any of them had ever seen on a creature, even a Bilgesnipe. It didn’t appear to have a nose or nostrils, none that were visible at any rate. Two large clawed arms dragged its body along as the tentacles behind it flared out, reaching over its head to grasp at its chosen prey. Leaping aside, Loki conjured his staff and sent a blast of energy at the creature that sent it sprawling back into the tunnel. His actions spurred the others to react; James opened fire, Merlin threw the flames he was holding into the tunnel, Harry shouted “Expeliarmus!” and Hannah shouted “Wait! Listen!”

 

As the noise died down, Loki realised what she had felt, the vibrations of the tracks beneath their feet. Remembering the Doctor’s advice, he shouted “Get against the wall!” and no sooner that they all done that, a tube train, with a very charred, very dead monster stuck to the front of it, came thundering past them. Everyone held their breath as the carriages whipped the air around them before the train rattled off into the distance, and then made their way quickly onto the platform out of harm’s way.

 

“Hannah, what was that?” Harry demanded.

 

“It’s called a Slyther,” Hannah panted, catching her breath. “I’ve met them before, back on-”

 

“What?” James asked as she cut herself off, her eyes almost popping as a look of realisation crossed her face. “What is it?”

 

“We’ve got it wrong,” Hannah murmured. “The Doctor got it wrong. Come on, we’ve got to tell him!”


	7. Jammy, or is that Jamming, Dodgers?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Without the Doctor, the rest of the UK Avengers are left to fight aliens whilst armed with only a Jammy Dodger...or are they?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally! Sorry for the delay, got a bit stuck!

“But what-?” Merlin cut himself off as Hannah broke into a run, heading for the stairs. Exchanging a puzzled and worried look, he, Harry, James and Loki sprinted after her.

 

“We need to evacuate this place now!” Hannah exclaimed, breathlessly as she reached the top of the stairs and looked around. Surprisingly, the Underground wasn’t that full, but then again it was a working day. She supposed at least that was one small mercy right now. “Doctor!”

 

“Hold on, nearly got it,” the Doctor muttered from his position crouched by the ticket booth. Sherlock and John looked up quickly as the others raced towards them. “Ah! Now-”

 

“We need to evacuate!” Hannah repeated.

 

“Why, what happened?” John asked, automatically reaching for his pistol.

 

“Well, we saw some weird black creature-” Harry began. Sherlock had already gone to inform the ticket officer to put out an order to evacuate all tube stations in the area, having cottoned onto the situation before Hannah had even explained it.

 

“Weird black creature?” the Doctor interrupted, jumping to his feet and hurrying back down the stairs.

 

Hannah groaned and ran after him. “Doctor, it was a Slyther!”

 

The Doctor spun around abruptly with wide eyes. “Hannah...are you sure?”

 

She nodded. “That’s the trap we’re meant to fall into!” Turning to John and Sherlock, she added “Do you remember what came through the Void _after_ the Cybermen last time?”

 

“Of course...” the Doctor whispered, before pulling himself together “We’re in real trouble!”

 

“What do we do?”

 

“I don’t know, Hannah, we’ve been planning for Cybermen but-”

 

“Something’s coming through the Void,” Sherlock interrupted, he and John being quick to whip out their pistols and hold them aloft as the others spun to look. Only, it wasn’t just “something,” though. It was _three_ somethings, and they manifested themselves very quickly into the sleek, smooth outlines of-

 

“Daleks!” the Doctor snapped.

 

 **“Stay where you are!”** the three voices grated out as one. **“Do not move!”**

 

“Here we go again,” Hannah groaned as she and the Doctor threw up their hands in surrender, as they so often did when surrounded by Daleks. It was, after all, the easiest way to not get exterminated.

 

“What are you lot doing here?” the Doctor snapped as the others, except for Hannah, stared at the Daleks as if half-expecting them to suddenly manifest themselves into Cybermen again right before their very eyes. “Because let me tell you, if this is another of your cunning plans to destroy the Earth, then I am on the brink of getting very, very angry!”

 

“I’m sure they’re shaking in their casings, Doctor,” Hannah sighed.

 

The leading Dalek glided forwards, its eyestalk bobbing up and down as if inspecting the humans. Those who had never seen Daleks before tensed up, feeling that clumsy looking as they were, these creatures were extremely deadly. Then, it turned its head towards its companions. **“Order our ships into position!”**

 

 **“I obey!”** one of the Daleks grated back, and Hannah noticed the small, compass like device on its arm that replaced a sucker stick. Some kind of homing or signalling beacon, she figured; after all Dalek technology was only surpassed by Time Lord tech. **“Ships now in position!”**

 

 **“Good!”** The leading Dalek turned back to face the Doctor and co. **“Exterminate the humans!”**

 

"Wait, you can't!" the Doctor yelped.

**“Exterminate!”**

**“Exterminate!”**

**“Exterminate!”**

Nothing happened.

 

The Doctor and Hannah exchanged a look as the Daleks, seemingly confused, attempted to fire their guns again, but still nothing happened. Their weaponry was completely disabled. Then, the Doctor laughed.

 

“Look at that, Hannah, Daleks without the power to kill!”

 

“Isn’t that an oxymoron, Doctor?” Hannah giggled as the Doctor stepped up to the leading Dalek.

 

“Tell me,” he said, still grinning, “I’ve always wondered, how does it feel?”

**“Keep back!”** the leading Dalek intoned.

 

“What can you do if we don’t?” the Doctor challenged, hands on hips, still grinning. “You see I did wonder if this might happen, last time I tried to fit a sort of lock on the Void, to stop some stuff coming through, a bit like applying virus protection to a computer. Of course, it didn’t quite work the way I wanted it to, but this is good enough for now.” He tapped the leading Dalek’s sucker stick and it yanked away from him in what seemed to be annoyance. “Not that it’s made you any less dangerous, of course, but it’s slowed you down a bit at least.”

 

 **“Army reports total loss of firepower!”** the Dalek with the beacon on its arm reported, swivelling its eyestalk to face the leader.

 

 **“It must be repaired!”** the spare Dalek squawked. **“The invasion of Earth must begin today!”**

 

**“Not possible! It is beyond our technology!”**

The leading Dalek swivelled towards the Doctor, who was still grinning. Behind him, James muttered to John “Any idea what’s going on?”

 

“No, but I think the Doctor’s got it well in hand,” John muttered back, adding worriedly “For now.”

 

“If it’s beyond your technology, what are you going to do?” Hannah couldn’t help taunting. “Perhaps, you’d better turn around and go home.”

 

The leading Dalek swivelled to her, brandishing its sucker stick in a menacing manner. The Doctor, seeing its intention to frighten Hannah into shutting up by stretching her brain, an act that would ultimately kill her, quickly stepped in the way. “No! These people are innocent, you can let them go!”

 

The Dalek turned its attention to the Doctor. **“Then YOU will repair our weapons! Or the humans will be exterminated!”**

 

John frowned. “You’re just going to kill us anyway, though. What sort of leverage is that?”

 

The Doctor was also frowning. “What are you planning?” he asked, quietly. His companions tensed, feeling something must be wrong if the Doctor no longer sounded as confident as he did before.

 

The lead Dalek turned back to the Dalek holding the beacon. **“Order all forces to launch their bacteria bombs!”**

 

“NO!” the Doctor yelped, and all three Daleks spun back to him. Panting slightly in anger, the Doctor scowled. “So, gone back to the old days, have we? Created a virus to...what? Kill a few people and then offer humanity the cure in exchange for complete surrender?”

 

 **“Correct!”** the Dalek agreed.

 

Hannah frowned but before she could say anything, it was Sherlock and Loki who both jumped the gun.

 

“Hang on, if you need a whole planet to offer their surrender-” Loki began.

 

“-Then how many of you are waiting on that ship? It can’t be a lot,” Sherlock finished.

 

“That’s a good question,” the Doctor nodded. “Got a good answer?”

 

(It should be noted here that Daleks, whilst incapable of human emotions are prone to bouts of extreme stubbornness, if their determination to conquer the universe is anything to go by.)

 

 **“You will repair our weapons!”** the lead Dalek demanded again, gliding closer to the Doctor. **“Or we will launch the batercia now! All humanoid creatures,”** and here it turned its gunstick pointedly towards Loki, **“will be exterminated immediately!”**

 

“Alright!” the Doctor cut in before it could go into a rant about Daleks conquering the Earth. “But only if you call off your other ground forces. I’m guessing they’ve already done enough damage around London!”

 

There was a pause as the lead Dalek turned to its fellows and then, with obvious reluctance, turned back to the Doctor. **“Agreed!”**

“You can’t, Doctor!” Merlin yelped, rushing to his side.

 

“Listen.” The Doctor swivelled to the others. “You lot stand a better chance of getting out of this alive if I help them. Hannah.” He pulled something out of his pocket and tossed it to her. Hannah frowned as she caught it in both hands. “You know what to do. Don’t let me down.”

 

 **“Temporal shift is ready!”** the Dalek with the beacon informed the leader.

 

The leader swivelled to the Doctor. **“Move!”**

“You know, you could say please,” the Doctor grumbled, moving over to them. “At least the Cybermen are polite occasionally.”

 

“But, Doctor,” Harry began.

 

The Doctor just winked at them before disappearing along with the Daleks. The tunnel fell silent as his friends stood for a second, blinking and praying he was about to suddenly appear in front of them again, preferably without the Daleks. Eventually, Sherlock broke the silence.

 

“We won’t be needing this, then,” he stated, going forward to retrieve the equipment from the floor.

 

Spurred into action by his movements, Hannah glanced upwards. “We’ve got to do something.”

 

“What?” James asked.

 

“I don’t know.” Hannah sprinted off in the direction of the steps and the others followed her; Sherlock, John and Merlin juggling the Doctor’s equipment between them as they did so. They reached the station exit and were met instantly with the sight of a crowd gathered around the entrance to the Tube station opposite, being held back by policemen and barriers.

 

“Move back, please,” the nearest policeman was calling over the panicked rabble as seven Time Travellers rushed forwards to see what was going on. “Move back, Miss!”

 

“UNIT!” Hannah snapped, wriggling under his arm, and the man was so surprised that he didn’t try to stop the others. Merlin grimaced as they looked down at the corpses at their feet, two men...or what was left of them at any rate. The bodies were desiccated shells of what they had once been, the skin turned an awful grey-brown colour.

 

“That’s what they can do with those...stick things?” he asked.

 

Hannah nodded. “They extracted their brainwaves, killed them almost instantly.”

 

“If that’s what they can do without firepower, what can they do _with_ it?” James asked.

 

“Well, we’re not going to stop them just by standing here,” John pointed out. “Let’s get back to the Tardis and use that thing the Doctor gave you, Hannah.”

 

“Why, are you hungry?” Hannah showed them what the Doctor had thrown them. “It’s a Jammy Dodger.”

 

“Oh, he’s finally gone mad,” John groaned.

 

“No, he’s trying to tell us something,” Sherlock replied, jumping to his feet from where he had formerly been crouched to examine the bodies. Hannah had to credit him for thinking of that, it made their claim of being with UNIT more plausible. “He’s telling us he hasn’t got a plan so it’s down to us.”

 

Hannah looked up in surprise. “You lot seriously want to stand and fight?”

 

“I thought that’s what we were here for,” Harry frowned.

 

“But none of you have ever fought that Daleks before,” Hannah protested. “You don’t know what you’re up against.”

 

“I thought you said once that they were just like Cybers?” John put in.

 

“Yeah, with one exception; when the two get into a fight, the Daleks win!” Hannah exclaimed.

 

“But you can’t fight them on your own,” Loki pointed out.

 

“For once, I agree,” Sherlock nodded.

 

Hannah looked at them all, realised she was outnumbered by a group of stubborn men and sighed. “Alright, well, we’ve wasted enough time, does anyone have a plan? And by the way, the Daleks are extremely hard to kill so we have to think of something extremely clever.”

 

The others frowned and thought.

 

“What about that jamming device?” Sherlock asked. “The one he used once to stop a group of Daleks at Cole Hill School?”

 

“How’d you-?” Hannah shook her head. “Right, the head-butt, forgot about that.”

 

“What does this “jamming device” do, then?” James asked.

 

“It jams the high frequency radio waves that work their guidance systems,” Hannah explained as best as she could remember from the Doctor’s description. “It’s like giving someone such a bad headache they can’t function. It doesn’t kill them but it does stop them long enough for you to plant an explosive in their midst or something.”

 

James looked thoughtful. “Can I see it?”

 

Hannah nodded and lead the way back to the Tardis, leaving a very confused crowd of people behind them. Inside, she opened the floor part of the Tardis that stored the archives and searched under “D” for “Dalek Jammer.” John recognised the junk-constructed device that the Doctor had once pulled out by accident whilst travelling together and could now briefly remember him saying something along the lines of “Very useful this, John, very powerful.” James took it from her and turned it over, still looking thoughtful.

 

“How many Daleks can this take down in one go?” he asked.

 

Hannah thought for a second. “Ah, about four or five at last count. Why?”

 

“If we could amplify the amount of feedback enough, we could take down that entire spaceship,” James replied, frowning.

 

“Can’t we do that?” Merlin asked.

 

“Not without a huge source of power,” James replied, looking up.

 

Hannah grinned and sprang to her feet. “We _have_ a huge source of power; we’re standing in it!” She spread her arms. “In fact, I bet if we hooked that thing up to the heart of the Tardis, we’d get more than enough energy.”

 

“Hannah, looking into the heart of the Tardis could kill us,” Sherlock pointed out.

 

“Only when the energy’s raw,” Hannah argued back. “If we could find a way to contain it-”

 

“I bet I could.” Loki stepped forward and held out his sceptre. “This has absorbed energy from the Tesseract; the Doctor told me that kind of power can contain anything.”

 

“We’d still need a few more wires,” James said, looking over the device again. “And something to charge it with.”

 

“Will this do?” Merlin produced a ball of lightning with magic. Glancing at Hannah, he added sheepishly “There’s a book in the library about a creature created with lightning.”

 

“Oh, Frankenstein,” Hannah smiled.

 

“And the Doctor has wires and tools,” John added, bringing the conversation back to the matter of hand.

 

“Then let’s do this,” James said, nodding.

 

 _Hold on, Doctor,_ Hannah thought, as the scrabble for tools that could open the heart of the Tardis began, _we’re coming!_

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Note: Alright, firstly if anyone’s going to send me a message telling me that it’s cliché to use the Daleks, my reply is that it isn’t because this is the first time I’ve used them in a fanfic (because, no joke, they are bloody difficult to write!) and even if it is, I don’t care. The Daleks are the best Doctor Who villains of all time; they were the first monsters of that show to grace our screens, they’re original because they were completely unlike everyone’s impression of TV aliens up until that point and are so popular that they just keep coming back. (Oh, and they were created by a Welshman, so naturally they’re the best!) It’s a matter of Doctor Who historical fact that every Doctor (except Number 8) has now faced the Daleks at least once, although there’s been a distinct lack of them in recent episodes, but we can’t have everything.  
> And secondly, I decided on the Daleks using germ warfare as their softening up tactic once again because it’s a storyline that is pretty easy to write around and also hasn’t been used recently – the last time it was used was in Death to the Daleks, although it’s only implied the Daleks created the plague in that and never actually stated. They also used it in The Dalek Invasion of Earth and Planet of the Daleks and it’s not been used since, so here it is again.)


End file.
